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A N
E S S A Y
ON THE
Treatment and Conversion
O F
AFRI CAN SLAVES
IN THE
BRITISH SUGAR COLONIES.
By THE
REVEREND JAMES RAMSAY, M. A.
Vicar of Teston, in Kent.
God hath made of one Blood all Nations of the Earth, for to dwell on
all the Face of the Earth, Adls xvii. s6.
He that ftealeth a Man, and felleth him, or if he be found in his Hand,
he (hall furely be put to death, Exodus xxi. i6.
LONDON:
Printed and Sold by James Phillips, George-Yard,
Lombard-Street,
M.UCC.LXXXl V.
JO
-//
rjio
H'C
[ iii 3
THE
PREFACE.
ALettter of an ordinary length, in an-
fvver to the humane one which is here
fubjoined, gave beginning to this perform-
ance. By frequent tranfcription, it fenfibly
increafed in fize, and extended itfelf to col-
lateral fubjecSts, till it had become fome-
thing like a fyftem for the regulation and
improvement of our fugar colonies, and the
advancement and converfion of their flaves.
On fubmitting the manufcript to thofe,
w^ho were much better judges than the au-
thor could pretend to be, of the prefent pre-
vailing tafte (and many perfons of rank and
learning have honoured it with a perufal) the
account of the treatment of flaves in our
colonies engaged their fympathy, and the
a z plaa
Iv PREFACE.
plan for their improvement and converiion
had their hearty good wifhes. But they
exhorted him, ahuoil all with one voice, to
fupprefs every part that tended to introduce
thofe political difcuffions, which muft be
unavoidable in treating of the ftate of co-
lonies, and their dependence on a mother
country.
As the author had, from the firft, no pri-
vate views to gratify in the plan, and wifhed
only to give it every poffible chance of fuc-
cefs with the public, their decifion was
final with him; and in conformity to it,
every thing that related to the improvements^
and better government of the colonies, has
been omitted* By this alteration in the
original form of the work, it has neceffarily
loft fomething of that fyllematic order,
which contributes fo much to the beauty
of compofitions, and leads fo pleafant-
ly on from premifes to conclufion. But
humanity is its objed:, not reputation.
When the finer feelings of the foul are en-
gaged, it would be a criminal trifling to aim
at amufement.
I will not infult the reader's underftand-
ing, by an attempt to demonllrate it to be
PREFACE. t^
an objecft of importance, to gain to fociety,
to reafon and religion, half a million of our
kind, equally with us adapted for advancing
themfelves in every art and fcience, that can
diftinguifh man from man, equally with us
made capable of looking forward to and
enjoying futurity. I rather wifh to call in
his benevolence, his confcience, his intereft,
to give their aid in carrying on the work.
The people, whofe improvement is here
propofed, toil for the Britifh ftate. The
public, therefore, has an interefl: in their
advancement in fociety. And what is here
claimed for them ? Not bounties, or gifts
from parliament, or people j but leave to
become more ufeful to themfelves, their
mafters, and the ftate. And furely a plan,
that has fuch an end in view, needs only to be
explained to procure a general prepofieflion in
its favour. V/hile the man of feeling finds
every generous fentiment indulged in the
profpe6t which it opens, the politician, the
felfifli, will have all their little wifhes of
opulence, and accumulation fully realized.
The defign then, muft have every man of
every complexion combined in its behalf;
and there is nothing to be accounted for but
a 3 the
vi P R E F A C E.
the author's courage, in prefuming to offer to
the public his thoughts in particular on the
fubjed:.
From the manner in which this work had
its beginning, it will appear that neither
vanity, nor felf-fufficiency, led the author
to the attempt. It was not till after the
feventh copy had been read, and its pur-
pofe approved of by many perfons of worth
and judgment, that he entertained the moll
diftant thoughts of publication. Even now,
that it has undergone every fuggefted cor-
redlion, and received every improvement
that three tranfcriptions in fucceffion could
give it, on their opinion, rather than his
own, he refts the probability of its proving
acceptable to the public.
Not to be guilty of ftifling what had a
generous purpofe in view, and poffibly might
do good, if fo it pleafed God, has been,
from the firjfl, as far as refped:ed himfelf,
the only inducement. Profit he difclaims 5
and willingly would he transfer all the cre-
dit that can poffibly arife from it, to him
who would take on him the cenfure. Yet
fliould he not forgive himfelf, were he to
difcover that ill nature had fliarpened a lingle
expreffion
PREFACE. vii
cxpreffion in the Effay, or dragged an unlucky
objed: of refentment into view* To blame
has not been a pleafant tafk. He has fuffered
more from the neceffity of doing it, than
the perfons aifedled will probably do from
the application ; which yet, except in one
cafe, muft be the work of confcience with
themfelves. In this cafe, the perfon who
is the obje(5l, is of fuch an happy difpofi-
tion, as to be incapable of feeling cenfure,
and of that eftablifhed character, that noth-
ing can hurt him. The public, therefore,
has a right to him, as to a beacon placed
near a dangerous quick fand.
To conclude, the reader has here the re-
marks of about twenty years experience in the
Weft-Indies, and above fourteen years parti-
cular application to thefubjeil* If it draws
the attention due to its importance, the author
will have the fatisfadlion of refiediing, that
he has not lived in vain for his country
and mankind. And this confideration will
fmooth before him the otherwife rugged
paths of life. Should it fail in anfwering
his well meant purpofe, ftill the thoughts
of having made the attempt, will pleafe on
reflection ; nor will the intention lofe its re-
ft 4 ward
viii PREFACE.
ward there, where his particular aim is to be
found acceptable.
Letter referred to above, which fuggefled to
the author the confideration of the follow-
ing fubjed:.
I will omit any apology, however needful,
for oifering my thoughts on the fubjed; of
llavery, to one, whofe office and opportu-
nities among flaves mufl induce him to think
and ad: what is right refpeding them. The
moft I can hope for is, to echo to him fome
of his own refiedions, which perhaps the
univerfal careleffnefs and indifference pre-
vailing in every thing that concerns them,
may, at times, caufe him to pafs inattentive-
ly by, or conlider lefs than their import-
ance deferves.
I am fure Mr. mufi: always think him-
felf not only obliged to ufe his Haves with
kindnefs, but alfo viewing them as fellow-
creatures, bound to extend his care to the
fecurity of their eternal happinefs, by in-
truding them in the relation which they
bear to the great Author of their being,
and gracious Redeemer of their fouls, and
in
PREFACE. ix
in the duty arifing from that relation, as it
is revealed in the gofpel, and is required of
all men, who feek after future happinefs.
A care which, however contrary to the ufual
policy of mailers, would be the moft pro-
bable means of making Haves diligent and
faithful ; for it would awaken confcience
within them, to be a i\ri&i overfeer, and a
fevere monitor, whom they could not evade.
This is a confequence, that if duly confi-
dered, might induce even thofe who, neg-
lecfling to take providence into the account,
conlider only how they Ihall make th^e moft
of their ftock, to afford their Haves oppor-
tunities of learning their duty; allowing
them, for example, fome portion of the
week for procuring their fubfiftence, and
fetting the Lord's day apart for religious
infl:ru(ftion.
Still granting that mailers, who look no
farther than prefent proiBt, may laugh at
the far-fetched expediation, furely men who
believe in revelation cannot indulge a doubt
but that the treating of them like fellow-
creatures, and the (hewing of mercy to their
fouls, will on the whole more advance the
mafter's real interefl, than a method which
fufFers
X PREFACE.
fuffers them to continue in brutifh igno-^
ranee of themfelves and their Creator ; which
obliges them to labour for the fupport of
their bodies, on a day fet apart for the im^
provement of their fouls.
I know in this cafe it is argued, " to fup-
** pofe that the work of five days may poili-
** bly be found as profitable to owners, as
'* that of fix days, is to exped that God
" will work a miracle to reward the indui-
" gence j an extraordinary exertion of pow-
*^ er, which on fo trivial an occafion, it would
** be prefumptuous tolookfor." But when
in any fituation, we doubt God's jufiice or
goodnefs, we injure his power and wifdom,
for thefe ad: under their influence. And
when we imagine him refiiing at a diilance,
or a(5ling only in great events, we entertain
improper notions of his relation to the work
of his own hands. Scripture and reafon,
when they contemplate the Divine nature,
join to reprefent him as ever prefent to all
his works, as quickening every thing that
liveth, upholding whatever hath a being, as
directing the operations of nature, and guid-
ing the actions of men, all to their proper
purpofeSj in a manner indeed that we cannot
compre-^
PREFACE. xi
comprehend j but fo, that a fparrow falls
not to the ground without his permiHion, and
that a cup of cold water given for his fake,
doth not efcape his notice, nor go without
its reward ; yet in a manner, which leaves
unreftrained that liberty, by which moral
agents become accountable for their adiions.
And if this be the ftate of things, under
God's government, can we doubt of their
recompenfe, who, in conformity to God's
injunctions laid on our firft parents, and
lince often renewed, allow themfelves and
their dependents leifure, on the Lord's day,
to learn their Creator's will, and pay him a
rational homage and duty ? Humbly to be-
lieve and exped: this, as declared to us in
God's general promifes in fcripture, is an
inftance of faith that we cannot refufe to
his veracity, who has engaged to perform it.
Even were we unable to conceive a par-
ticular method, by which a compenfation
for this relinquiflied part of our fervants
labour could be eifeded, when we on that
account conclude, that the obedience will
refled: no benefit on us, we diftrufl God's
promifes, or doubt of his ability to find a
way to reward our compliance with his
will.
xii PREFACE.
will. And yet, without working a manifefl:
miracle, God may give fuccefs to our en-
deavours, in a thoufand ways, which fhall
feem to be the natural effects of induilry, or
of that unknown direction of human affairs,
which in common account is called chance.
He may make us ikilful in managing occa-
fions, fagacious in forefeeing events. He
may prefervc us from expenfive illnefs, guard
us from mifchievous neighbours. He may
blefsus with faithful fervants. He may in-
cline mens affections to us, and make them
inflruments in promoting our profperity.
Endlefs are the methods by which, in an
unperceived manner, he can turn the com-
mon accidents of life to reward men who
prefer duty to prefent advantage, who co-
operate with his benevolence in promoting
the happinefs of their fellow-creatures.
To doubt of a reward, even in this world,
whenever it fhall be, on the whole, befl for us,
is to doubt of the propriety and efficacy of
prayer, and to cut off our hopes of its fuccefs.
Yet God invites us to make our requefls
known unto him, and folemnly promifes,
that when we afk we fhall receive. That it
will be fo, even in this life, we may pofitive-
PREFACE.
Xlll
ly conclude, if we confider only the confe-
quence of this juft refle(flion, " What is
** called the ordinary courfe of Providence,
** which governs events, is not the effedl
" of blind chance, or uncontroulable fate,
*' but a wife and orderly chain of caufes and
'* effects, adapted by the Almighty contri-
** ver, as nicely to the condud; of free
'' agents, as to the inftinfts of brutes, or
" the laws of vegetable and inanimate mat-
** ter."
It is owned even by men who confider
flaves as property, and who, having bought
them, conclude that they have a right ta
make the moft of their money that the
working of flaves beyond their ability, fhort-
ens their lives, and checks their population.
Do not fuch men acknowledge in this,
ftrong traces of Divine juftice, punifliing
cruelty and third of gain by the moft na-
tural means, by making them countera(S
and defeat their own purpofe. And by
parity of reafoning may we not expedt
Providence to profper by means as na-
tural, our humane, benevolent attention to
wretches, whom the crimes and avarice of
felfifli men have placed in our power ? With
refped:
XIV
PREFACE.
refped: to religion, unlefs we deny revela-
tion to be a bleffing, or benefit to mankind,
we cannot hold ourfelves blamelefs, if w^e
forbear uling our bell: endeavours to com-
municate the knowledge of it to every one
within our reach. x4nd whatever may be^
our fuccefs in other refpedls, the pains that
we ufe to improve the minds of our fel-
low creatures, will return with advantage
into our own bofoms. God's grace will
be ftirred up within us, and our own diipo-
fition and behaviour will be correded and
amended.
Introdudory Addrefs, in Anfwer to the
preceding Letter.
I have perufed with attention, your hu-
mane and pious remarks on the treatment of
flaves in the Britifh colonies. I think my-
felf honoured by your fuppofing me, in par-,
ticular, capable of being influenced in my
behaviour towards them, by a confideration
fo benevolent, as a refpe(ft to their moral
improvement, and their eternal welfare. In
return, allow me to think highly of the
heart, that with a good will, in which the
meaneft
PREFACE, XV
meanefl and moft diftant of your kind have
a fhare, can, in the caufe of humanity and
religion, thus warmly intereft you for fuch
unpitied, and defpifed ohjeds as our flaves
in general are.
An account which may be depended on,
in a matter wherein humanity is nearly con-
cerned, cannot be unfatisfaftory to a mind,
turned like yours to all the tender feelings.
And though I fear the emotions which this
account mufl naturally raife in your breafl:,
will not be of the cheerful kind, yet I
doubt not of its producing reflexions, which
you would not willingly have been without.
An humble refignation to the meafures of
Providence, is our duty at all times ; but
then efpecially, when our concern for God's
glory, and our brother's eternal welfare,
feems to mark out an objed: for our whhes
and prayers, which God is pleafed to keep
referved among the hidden things of his
government, till his own good time fhall
come to reveal, and give it to the world. -
I wifh indeed, for your eafe, that I could
have comprehended any tolerable view of
the fubjed, within more moderate limits ;
but it became complex under my hands, and
drew
xvi P R E F A C E*
drew after it a variety of confiderations.
Happy ftill fhould I have thought myfelf,
could I have made this view, fuch as it is,
exprefs what you charitably wiih it might
unfold ; could I inform you, that we are
careful of the bodies, and tender of the fouls
of thefe our fellow-creatures, thus fubmitted
to our power, thus abandoned to our huma-
nity. But truth requires a different, a
mournful tale of unconcern and unfeeling
negledt.
To make this view more complete, I
ihall firft confider the feveral natural and
artificial ranks that take place in focial life,
and more particularly that of mafter and Have
in the European colonies. I fhali fhew
how much the public v/ould be profited,
and how much the mafter would gain, by
advancing flaves in focial life. I ihall fhew
how this advancement in fociety, and their
improvement in religion, muffc neceffarily go
hand in hand, and aflift each other, if either
one, or both thefe purpofes, be our view re-
fpedling them. As extravagance and avarice
have begun of late to make fad encroachments
on that reft of the fabbath, which hitherto
b^d been reckoned facred^ in addition to
your
PREFACE.
xvii
your pious reafons for fetting it apart for the
purpofes of religion ; I Ihall prove how
much this inconfiderate robbery hurts the
mailer's own interefl. I fhall aflert the
claim of the Negroes to attention from us, by
explaining their natural capacity, and prov-
ing them to be on a footing of equality in
refpedl of the reception of mental improve-
ment, with the natives of any other country.
And in conclufion I fhall lay down a plan for
their improvement and converlion.
CONTENTS.
XVlll
CONTENTS.
CHAP. L OF THE VARIOUS RANKS
IN SOCIAL LIFE. Page i
Sed. i« The Ranks into which the
Members of a Community neccf-
farily feparate. „ » ^ ^
Se6t. 2. Mafter and Slave in ancient
Times. - - - -19
Se(ft. 3^. Mafter and Slave in Gothic
Times. - ~ - - 29
Se6t. 4. Mafter and Slave as propofed
by Fletcher for Scotland, Anno 1698 37
Sed:. 5. Mafter and Slave in the French
Colonies. _ « - » ^^2
Bed:. 6. Mafter and Slave in the Bri-
tifti Colonies. „ - » 62
Sed:, 7. Mafter and Slave in particular
Inftances. - - - - 91
CHAP.
C O N T E N T S. xix
CHAP. II. THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SLAVES WOULD AUGMENT THEIR
SOCIAL IMPORTANCE. Page 102
Sed. I. Their prefent Importance in
Society as Slaves. - - - 106
Se(5t. 2. Their prefent Importance in
Society would be increafed by Free-
dom. - - - - -113
Se(3:. 3. Their Mafters would be pro-
fited by their Advancement. - 118
Sed:. 4. Their Mailers would be pro-
fited by allowing them the Privilege
of a Weekly Sabbath. - - 130
CHAP. III. THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SLAVES MUST ACCOMPANY THEIR
RELIGIOUS IMPORTANCE. Page 150
Sed:. I. Examples of the Difficulty
found in intruding them in .their
prefent State. - - ^ ^ 53
Bed. 2. The Obftacles that the Mora-
vian Miffions have had to flruggle
with. - - - - -161
Se6t. 3. Inefficacy of the Author's pri-
vate Attempts to inftrud Slaves. i66
Sed. 4'
XX CONTENTS.
Pag©
Sed". 4. Inefficacy of the Author's pub-
lic Attempts to inilrud: Slaves. 178
Se<3:. 5. The Manner fuggefted, in
which private Attempts on large
Plantations to improve Slaves may
probably fucceed. ^ - _ 181
CHAP. IV, NATURAL CAPACITY OF
AFRICAN SLAVES VINDICATED. 197
Sed:. I. Objedrions to African Capacity
drawn from Philofophy, confidered. 198
Se(5t. 2. Objeftions to African Capacity
drawn from Form, confidered. - 211
Sed:. 3. Objedions to i\frican Capacity
drawn from Anatomy, confidered. 219
Sed:. 4. Objedlions to African Capacity
drawn from Obfervation, confidered 231
Bed:. 5. African Capacity vindicated
from Experience. - - - 241
CHAP. V. PLAN FOR THE IMPROVE^
MENT AND CONVERSION OF AF-
RICAN SLAVES, Page 263
Seft. I. Efbablifhment of Clergy, and
their Duty among Slaves. - - 265
Sed:. 2. General Improvement of Slaves. 273
Sed:. 3. Privileges granted, and Police
extended to Slaves. - - - 28^
Conclufiona « =, ^ ^
Of
The Reader is defired to corred the following ERRATA.
Page
55 td note, line 4. after by, read exaSling,
66 Laft line, for lafl r. Eafi.
74 Note, line 7. for arrive r. arife,
116 Note, line 3. for 1750 r. 1650.
134 Line 13. for fmgle x- Jimple\
150 Line 6 from the bottom r. tliefe two inere meant.
166 Line i. r. work of the week.
175 Line 9. r. without a certain.
213 Line 4. for call x, chufe.
239 Line 16. for town r. to<wns.
260 Line 8. r. the nobleft fruit of religion, charity.
297 Line 6 from the bottom, for 4000,000 r. 400,000.
ESSAY
O N T H E
Treatment and Conversion
O F
AFRICAN SLAVES
IN THE
BRITISH SUGAR COLONIES.
C H A P. I.
Of the various Ranks in SOCIAL LIFE.
THERE is a natural inequality, or
diverfity, which prevails among men
that fits them for fociety, enables them to
fill up all the different offices of polifhed life,
and forms their varied abilities, nay, even
their particular defeds and v^ants, into a
firm band of union. Where the arrange-
A ment
2 On the Treatment and
ment of thefe varied attributes in liian is
condudled in fociety by the views of nature,
or the did:ates of revelation v^hich explain
and inforce them, there the feelings and
interefts of the weaker, or inferior mem-
bers, are confulted equally with thofe of
the ftronger or fuperior. Each man takes
that ftation for which nature intended him;
and his rights are fenced around, and his
claims are retrained, by laws prefcribed by
the Author of nature : for He is the only
rightful legiflator; and human regulations
are in a moral fenfe binding, only when they
can be traced immediately, or in principle,
to this pure origin. As the creation of man
had the general improvement and happinefs
of the race in view, every law that refpedls
him muft fuppofe an attention to this pur-
pofe of his being, and therefore cannot
regard the intereft of one at the expence of
another. All, as far as is confiftent with
general good, mufl be left to the free ufe
of their powers and acquifitions, or of life,
liberty, and property. In the ufe of thefe,
within the limits of law, confifls the only
equality that can take place among men;
and it is evident that the extent of this ufe
mufl
Conversion of African Slaves. 3
mufl vary according to the different fituation
of each individual, and the capacity, or
power of exertion, which he polTefleth,
and farther muft be affeded by the ftate of
improvement, that the community, of which
he is a member, has attained.
Oppofed to this law of nature, and of God,
that gives and fecures to every man the rights
adapted to his particular ftation in fociety,
ilands the artificial, or unnatural relation of
mafter and Have; where power conflitutes
right ; where, according to the degree of his
capacity of coercion, every man becomes
his own legillator, and ereds his intereft, or
his caprice, into a law for regulating his
condud: to his neighbour. And as the one
draws its origin from the heavenly fountain
of benevolence, fo the other may be traced
to the infernal enemy of all goodnefs. For
here no mutual benefit is confulted, but
every wifh, every feeling, is fubmitted to
the mandate of a felfifh tyrant. Yet the
influence of this luft for acting the mafter
has been fo univerfal, and has obtained fo
long, as to oblige us alfo, in principle, to
deduce it immediately from that love of
power, which, within the boundaries pre-
A 2 fcribed
4 On the Treatment and
fcribed by nature, makes a part of our con-
flitution ', it not being poffible to account
for its having fo generally prevailed, as we
find it has in the v^orld, on any other fup-
pofition than its being an abufe of what is
natural to mankind, excited and cheriflied
in them by an enemy to their virtue and
happinefs.
For, as far back as hiflory carries us, we
read of mailer and Have. Even in the favage
flate, cuftom, which leaves men on a footing
of equality, has enllaved wives. Among
our negro flaves, he who cannot attach to
himfelf a wife, or fubdue any other creature,
buys fome half ftarved dog, over whom he
may exercife his tyrannic difpofition.
If thefe be the unalienable claims of human
nature, and this the pradlice of mankind
oppofed to them, how necelTary muil it be
to fix fuch boundaries, as may preferve the
rights of the weak from the incroachments
of the ftrong. And this cannot be done in
a more effedlual manner, than by drawing
the natural, and the artificial ftate of fociety,
each in its proper colours, and leaving the
decision to the common fenfe of mankind.
SECT.
Conversion of African Slaves. 5
SECT. I.
The Ranks into which the Members of a
Community necefTarily feparate. '
In every independent ftate, whether monar-
chy or republic, that has got beyond the
iirft fteps of civilization, the people, or
citizens, naturally divide into fovereign and
fubjedt, mafter and family, employer and
employed 3 all other ranks being arbitrary
or artificial.
The fovereign declares and executes the
will of the people at large. He mufl: there-
fore be fupreme, or uncontroulable by any
particular number, or part of the people.
His authority muft extend over all ranks,
comprehend all poffible cafes, and conclude
every particular diftrid:. In this fenfe he
is arbitrary, or intruded with the power of
enabling and abrogating laws, within the
limits which man's conftitution, and the
dictates of morality prefcribe. But as the fo-
vereign, whether hereditary or eledlive,
permanent or temporary, one or many adling
together in one body, is intrufted with this
power for the benefit of the people, which
A 3 fup-
6 On the Treatment and
fuppofeth it to be exercifed for the general
good ', therefore the law, or will of the
fovereign ihould be declared in general
terms, that it may affed: individuals only by
inference in particular cafes, and conclude
the perfon of the fovereign in his ordinary
condud:, and individual capacity, equally
with the fubjed:.*
It is the general purpofe of every govern-
ment, that, in extraordinary cafes, conftitutes
the people judges of their fovereign's con-
duct, and juftifies them in refuming a power,
which, in refped: of its end, muft be con-
lidered as delegated. Such a cafe happened
at the revolution. But the occalion may
* This circumfiance is carried to a great length in the
Britifh conftitution with the happieft efFefts. The Houfe of
Peers helps to compofe the legillature ; but each member, as
an individual, continues fubjeft to the laws. The Houfe of
Commons pofleffes, for a time limited, a fhare in the legif-
lation; but each reprefentative is a private citizen, under
the operation of the laws ; and, after a time, the whole mixes
with the mafs of the people, to obey, as fubjedls, thofe
ftatutes that they had affiiled to frame. The perfon of the
king alone, out of refpeft to his office, is not made the objed
of coercive law. It is this mixed character of legiflator and
citizen in our rulers that makes authority compatible with
freedom ; not the particular proportion of thole who have
the privilege of elefting them, or their numbers, or the
period for which they may have been chofen.
fafely
Conversion of African Slaves. 7
fafely continue to be left, as it v^^as then, to
the feelings of the people. Deligning 'men,
otherwife unable to work themfelves into
notice, are, under the maik of patriotifm,
fo ready to fet up, at every trifle, a clamour
againjfl: government, to enhance their price,
or pave the way to their own ambition,
that a virtuous citizen will not eafily fuffer
himfelf to be drawn in to join the cry.
A free ftate, then, is that in which known
laws bind equally fovereign and fubjedl.
A proclamation forbidding the exportation
of grain is an ad: of power, refting on the
propriety of the meafure. A vote of credit
is as illegal a manner of railing money
on the fubjedt, as was formerly £hip-money,
or a benevolence -, though it may not be
followed by all their bad confequences.
Both fhew a defed: in the conftitution which
wants to be corrected by a general law,
prefcribing the proper condud; in particular
exigencies. The law that fliut up Bollon
Port was hard, becaufe particular. A law
to /liut up every port, where the revenue
laws are reiifted, would be jull and equi-
table. Thus might a didatorial authority,
(I mean a latent power to be occalionally
A 4 called
S On the Treatment and
called forth) which is TiecefTary in every
flate, be eftablifhed on a legal foundation,
and be kept from tranfgreffing its due
bounds.*
Families are, in the detail, what commu-
nities are at large, except that the head, or
mailer of the family, having a kind of
property, either continued or temporary,
in all under his roof, governs by the didlates
of difcretion, rather than by known laws.
Still the good, even of the loweft member of
the family, mufl be a co-operating principle.
And that family, whofe government ap-
proaches neareft to the regular method,
which prefcribed known rules fuppofe,
where the claims, and duty, or buiinefs, of
* The cafes, for which it is neceflary to provide a didatorial
power, may eafily be forefeen, and be provided for in one
general Itatute, to be binding till the legiflature can be af-
fembled to deliberateon the fubjedl. The circumftances that
make it proper to fufpend the Habeas Corpus Aft, to open or
ihut the portSj to lay embargoes, to give a vote of credit,
may eafily be enumerated. But arbitrary undefined power
has charms too alluring to be resigned by any, who find them-
felves in pofTcffion of it. Even our Houfe of Commons,
while afting as guardian of the privileges of the people,
choofes to fubmit its right of commitment, in cafes of con-
tempt, to the capricious decifion of any ordinary magiftrate,
rather than permit the circumftances of the claim to be de-
fined by a pofitive law.
each
Conversion of African Slaves. 9
each individual is diftindly afcertained,
will, on the whole, be befl managed, and
allow the perfons compoiing it to enjoy the
greateft poffible freedom in their flations.
In this light the rank of mailer and fervant
is comprehended in that of family 3 fervants,
as a part of the family, are fubjed: to its
rules, and, as contributing to its eafe, are in-
titled to its advantages. But as the agreement
between the mafler and fervant is voluntary,
prefcribing the duty on one fide, and af-
certaining the wages on the other, it may
likewife be conlidered under the head of
employer and employed. The want, at iirft
view, appears to be reciprocal 3 but cuftom
has univerfally affixed to property the idea
of fuperiority over perfonal ability, or labour.
It is in this particular view, of emolument
of office, that magiflrates may be faid to be
the fervants of the people, though when their
authority, and not their maintenance, is con-
fidercd, they may be faid to partake of
fovereignty.
The poiTeffing of materials, or a fubjed: to
be improved for ufe by the fkill or labour of
another, fuppofeth in the pofTefTor a right
to prefcribe the manner in which that /kill
is
10 On the Treatment and
is to be exercifed, or that labour performed j
and on allowing a certain reward or advant;age
to the man, thus employed, to appropriate
to his (the pofTefTor's) own ufe the labour, or
improved materials. This fuperiority is bal-
lanced on the fide of the workman, by his
being free to refufe or accept the condition.
It varies with the demand for labour, and
with the number of thofe, who offer them-^
felves to the work^ but mutual want and
mutual utility is the band that connedts
them together.
Similar to this, is the relation between the
mechanic, or artizan, and his cuflomer.
The artizan provides his own materials, and
works for the public: yet, though he fets
his own price on his workmanihip j and the
cuftomer, without having made a previous
bargain, can only refufe or agree to the con-
dition, the confideration of having given
occalion for the employment, in moft cafes,
transfers the fuperiority to the cullomer.
In the cafe of the learned profeffions,
there is, indeed, fome variety; but the like
analogy of employment on the one fide,
and encouragement on the other, runs
through the whole. Particular perfons fludy,
ancl
Conversion OF African Slaves, ii
and make themfelves acquainted with
fciences, that are generally ufeful, with a
view of being employed by the public, and
of drawing a maintenance, and deriving
diftindion from the exercife of their feveral
profeflions.
Religion, independent of its relation to
the Supreme Being, is fo neceiTary to fupply
the defect of law, and to inforce obedience
to government by the influence of con-
fcience, that hitherto, in every poliflied
flate, it has made apart of the confhitution;
and becaufe it is apt to be perverted to bad
purpofes, by ill deligning men, its profef-
fors have always been an important object
of the public attention.* They are fettled
in every little corner of the ftate as monitors,
or cenfors of the people, and they have their
maintenance afcertained out of the labours
of thofe, whom they are appointed to ex-
* If it be objefted, that the original conftitution of feveral
of the American provinces is an exception, it may be anfwered,
that thefe provinces were fettled under the proteftion of a ftate,
of whofe conftitution an eftabliflied religion made an eflential
part; and, at a period, when the hopes and fears of futurity had
a general influence, independent of public eftablifhments ; and
that they have not had a length of time, or, till within thefe few
laft years, been in circumftances to fliew the genuine eftefts of
fach a peculiarity.
],iort
12 On the Treatment and
hort and inftrud:. Their fupport cannot,
any more than that of the magiftrates, be
left by government to the voluntary choice
of the people, becaufe thofe, who moll
need to be controuled by the miniftry
of both, favour their inftitution leail, and
would be far from contributing willingly to
their maintenance. It would be unjufl: to
expeift, that the good citizen fhould alone be
taxed to fupport that m.agiflrate, whom the
condud: of the bad renders efpecially necef-
fary; or that the pious man alone Ihould
contribute to maintain that minifter, who,
as far as refped:s the ftate, is eftablifhed
chiefly to moderate the profligacy of the
vicious. The lowell members of the ftate,
men infenfible of the neceffity of eftablifh"
ments, and generally unable to contribute
to them, yet at the fame time objects of
them, and pofleffing importance fufficient to
demand the public care, are the great con-
fideration in the inftitution of magiflrate and
minifter. The public, therefore, muft efta-
blifli equally, and maintain both. The clergy,
by their eftablifhment, become fervants of
the public, for promoting order and good
condu(ft among the people, by the hopes and
fears
Conversion of African Slaves. 13
fears of religion. As fuch they have their
duty prefcribed, and their maintenance, and
rights, afcertained by law ; which fixes the
limits of each, and prevents their encroach-
ments.
Men are fo attentive to whatever regards
their health, or property ; and the emolu-
ments, and diftindtion, which accompany
eminence in the profeffions relating to
them, encourage fuch numbers to apply to
them, that government has feldom been,
obliged to meddle with the prad:ice of law
or phyfic. A man applies to that phyfician,
or lawyer, who has his confidence^ and he
muft exert ikill and addrefs to preferve that
difi:indion. Here the dependence and utility
are reciprocal, and adequate to the purpofe.
Thefe profeflions, though a confequence of
fociety, yet refpecfl each man chiefly as an
individual; on this account, except in
flagrant abufes, they are fafely left to private
interefl, and private exertion. But religion,
in its efl:abli{hment, refpecfting chiefly pub-
lic order, and private improvement only
as far as it is fubfidiary to the other, its pro-
fefTors are confidered as auxiliaries to the
magiftrate, and thus, being fervants of the
ftate, are fupported at the public charge.
In
14 On the Treatment and
In the profeffion of arms there is fome-^
thing more particular; but jftill the general
analogy takes place. In it one part of the
community comes under certain engage-
ments for the prefervation of the wholei
but the exigency is fuppofed to be preffing,
and the purpofe national. When it is necef-
fary to eftablifh an army, the foldier becomes
obliged to obey his general. Here the foldier
proted;s himfelf, his family, his country:
and to do this with effed:, he fubmits to
fuch orders as are conducive to that end;
and in the exercife of his duty his country
cares for, and maintains, him. He, therefore,
is alfo the fervant of the public, and, as
fuch, is employed, and maintained by it;
being as neceflary, in time of peace, to pre-
ferve the little 'police that licentioufnefs
has fuffered to remain among us, as, in time
of war, to defend us from our enemies.
Now in the cafe of the laws, which refped:
government and people, the rule is general,
fixed, and known, and equally binds the
fovereign and citizen. Prejudice, caprice, or
intereft, cannot fingle out an individual to
tyrannize over him. In the cafe of a family,
its ftrid; union and affection bind it in one
common interefl, and caufe the members to
rejoice
Conversion OF African Slaves. 15
rejoice or fufFer together. In the cafe of the
labourer or artizan, he being at liberty to
accept or refufe an offer from a particular
employer or cuftomer, and this lafl being
alfo free in making his agreement, and
obliged to comply with it, when determined
on; thefe conditions fecure both parties
equally from injury and oppreffion. In the
learned profeffions, the like circumftances
produce limilar effed:s. Even in the pro-
feffion of arms an equality is preferved in the
compadl, and fentiment and honours com-
penfate for the refignation of fome of the
privileges of citizenfhip.
But in the arbitrary relation of mafter and
Have, no law reftrains the one, no eledlion
or compad: fecures the other. The mafter
may invade the deareft rights of humanity,
and trample on the plainefl rules of juflicej
the flave cannot change his tyrant, or remon-
ftrate againll; the impropriety, perhaps im-
poffibility, of his tallc.
The authority which men allow to the
laws that govern them, has its foundation in
general utility, and the reafon of things :
and as all law is, or ought to be found-
«
ed on our conftitution, it, according to
what has beea obferved, draws its ultimate
fandion
i6 On the Treatment and
fan(5lioh from the God of nature, and thus
interefts confcience in the obedience due to
it. Here the equality and comprehenlive-
nefs of the rule fecure the individual from
oppreffiouj he can be affedled only together
with the community, or when he puts him-
felf in the cafe forbidden generally by the
law. Hence it is that all Bills of Attainder
muft carry oppreffion and injuftice in their
very form, being calculated not for general
utility or prevention, as laws ihould be,
but for particular deflrudiion ; not for guard-
ing againil crimes, but for creating them.
The deference claimed by the employer or
cuflomer, and the refped; paid by, or to
the learned profeffions, according to the
rank of the perfons concerned, have their
foundation in the regard fhewn to wealth,
learning, or power; and their excefs is
guarded againft by the nature of the com-
pact, and the power of affent lodged with
the labourer, artizan, or inferior perfon.
Now as far as the deference refped:ing the
employer extends, it fuppofeth as real a
fuperiority, limited only in its operation to
the defign thereof, as that of mafter over
flavcj and as it arifeth from the ranks into
which fociety univerfally feparates men, it
may
Conversion of African Slaves, ij
may be called fecial fervitude, which muft
take place in the freeft ftate.*
Here the fervant makes his compadl
with the mafter, or fuperior, and frames it
to agree with his feelings, and to fall in with
his abilities j and when the terms of his
agreement are fulfilled, his time and his
enjoyments are in his own power. But in
the llavery of our colonies, the larger part
of the community is literally facrificed to
the lefs; their time, their feelings, their
perfons, are fubjed to the intereft, the
caprice, the fpite of mafters. and their fub-
ftitutes, without remedy, without recom-
pence, v/ithout profpecfts. This may be
called artificial fervitude, unprofitable to the
* In the conteft between Britain and America, it may be
remarked, that the friends of the latter contended not for the
equality of men, confidered as individuals unconnefted in
fociety, till mutual benefit brought them together, and formed
the diltiniSlion of ranks ; for in this light Americans have
made as inconfiderate matters to as miferable flaves as can
any where be found. But they contended for the prefent aftual
equality of all men, with an exception to their own flaves.
And again, to fupport the argument, they were obliged to
fuppofe fociety diflblved, and men reduced to that folitary,
favage Itate, where fuch equality only can take place. For
fociety cannot be maintained, even in idea, but by the ine-
quality of condition, and various ranks neceflarily arifmg
from the focial compadl-— So eafy is it for men to take fuch
parts of reafonirig as belt fuit their prefent purpofe.
B public.
iS On the Treatment and
public, burdenfome even to the mafter^
intolerable to the fervant, repugnant to hu-
manity,
A law, for the purpofe of police, may direct
the ftrength and induflrv of the citizens to
a particular obje<5t; as when it encourages,
by a temporary monopoly, the eflabliiliment
of a certain flaple or manufa(5lure; n-ay, for
purpofes which refped: the flate, it may in
certain points, and for a certain period, fub-
jed: the perfon of one man to another, as
in forming an army. But we cannot fuppofe
a law that ihall fubjedl the perfon of one man
to the private purpofes of another, with-
out once ftipulating the extent of the au-
thority, the nature of the fervice, or the
fufficiency of the recompence. Such a law,
by putting, perhaps, the greater part of the
community out of the protection of all law,
would be inconfiftent v^ith the notion of
fociety. For the prime delign of fociety is
the extenlion of the operation of law, and
the equal treatment and protection of the
citizens. Slavery, therefore, being the ne-
gation of law, cannot arife from law, or be
compatible with it. As far as llavery pre-
vails in any community, fo far muft that
community be defeClive in anfwering the
purpofes
Conversion of African Slaves. 19
purpofes of fociety. And this v^e affirm to
be in the highefl degree the cafe of oiir
colonies. Slavery, indeed, in the manner
wherein it is found there, is an unnatural
ftate of oppreffion on the one fide, and of
fufFering on the other ; and needs only to be
laid open or expofed in its native colours,
to command the abhorrence and oppolition
of every man of feeling and fentiment.
SECT. IL
Mafter and Slave in ancient Times.
We are taught, by the highell: authority,
that Mofes adapted feveral of his inftitutions
to the particular difpofition of his country-
men. He did not attempt to prohibit
flavery among them, perhaps, becaufe they
were not then more ripe for it, than for the
indifToluble band of matrimony; but while
he allowed them to make flaves of the con-
quered Canaanites and their poflerity, he
endeavoured to render their lot eafy, and the
behaviour of maflers humane. Indeed, in the
early ages, it is in a manner peculiar to him,
and the Athenian legillators, (of whom here-
after) to have paid in the cafe of flaves a
proper attention to the referved and unalien-
able rights of human nature.
B 2 He
20 On the Treatment and
He enads, that there fhould be one law,
one rule of juftice for the native and for the
ftranger ; which is in diredl oppofition to
fome of our colony laws, where the evidence
of even a free African will not be taken
againfl a white man. He fecures good ufage
to the flave, by commanding, that if his maf-
ter, in beating him, flrike out but a fingle
tooth, he fhall have his freedom. He or-
dains the perfonal flavery of every Jew
to terminate in the beginning of the feventh,
or fabbatical year, whether near at hand, or
diftant, when that commenced. He guards
effed:ually againft a groveling llavilh fpirit
among his people, by condemning him to
perpetual flavery, who, inticed by kind treat-
ment from his mailer, ihould fhow a dif-
regard of this noble privilege of the iabba-
tical year. He calls repeatedly on his peo-
ple to remember, that they themfclves had
been flaves in Egypt ^ and, therefore, from
motives of fellow-feeling fhould make the
condition of their flaves eafy and agreeable to
them. He bids them treat well flrangers of
one country, becaufe they had been flrangers
in their land; others, becaufe they v/ere of
the fame lineage with themfelves. He tells
them.
Conversion of African Slaves. 21
them, that the inftitutlon of a w^eekly fabbath
had in contemplation, the benevolent pur-
pofe of giving reft to the v^earied Have, and
a refpite from toil, even to the wearied ox.
Among thofe nations that had not the
light of revelation to diredt their condud,
the Athenians deferve the firft place: they
were indulgent, eafy, and kind to their Haves,
when compared with their neighbours.
And well this condefcenlion became a peo-
ple, who, by mere force of genius, advanced
human nature much nearer to perfedtion
than any other nation. That their good fenfe
did not, in every particular, carry them to
that equality of behaviour towards their
ilaves, which humanity might expert, or be-
nevolence fuggeft, is not fo much to be
wondered at, as that they fhould be able to
oppofe the example of all their neighbours
for capricious feverity, and in the chief lines
of their condud: refpediing fuch ill-fated
beings, fhould give occaiion to the obferva-
tion, that the life of a Have at Athens was
much happier than that of a freeman in
any other Grecian ftate.
If Athenian flaves were treated with cruel-
ty by their maftcrs, they might claim pro-
B 3 te(Sion
22 On the Treatment and
tedion in the Temple of Thefeus : there
they remained in fafety till the fubjed: of
complaint could be tried at law. Nor, in
that cafe, did the law ruin, or refufe to re-
lieve, thofe whom it pretended to affifl;
for juftice was diilributed to rich and poor
at the expence of the public. If the com-
plaint of the flave was found to be juft,
the mafter was obliged to affign over his
fervice to fome other perfon. Slaves could
demand an exchange of mafters, if their
mafter had made any attempt on their
chaftity. The law alfo gave them protec-
tion and remedy, in their own names and
perfons, againfl: every injury that might
have been done them by any citizen, not
their mafcer,
Athenian flaves were not rellrained in any
of the common amufements of fociety.
They were allowed to acquire property, on
paying their mailers a certain yearly rate.
If able to purchafe their freedom, they might
demand it of their mafter for a determined
price. Their mafters fometimes, the ftate
often, rewarded their fervice and fidelity with
freedom ; in particular, after having been
pjice employed in war, they were fure to be
mad^
Conversion of African Slaves. 23
made free. Contrary to the policy of modern
times, the Athenians deemed no man fit to
defend the ilate, but him who was worthy to
be a member of it.
The Athenians reaped the advantage of
their moderation and humanity. For though,
by the lowefl calculation, their country con-
tained three grown male Haves for one free-
man, notice is taken, in their hiftory, of
only one infurrecflion among their miners;
and once, in time of war, of a con-
liderable number who deferted from their
mafters, and abandoned the country. On
the other hand, their neighbours, the Spar-
tans, who, through a wantonly cruel policy,
were continually harrailing, ill treating,
oppreffing, nay, to keep their hands ac-
cuflomed to blood, butchering their Haves,
were held in conflant alarms by them, and
often were brought into extreme danger, by
their defperate attempts to regain their
liberty. Yet the condition of flaves among
the Spartans, from the circumftance of their
being generally the property of the pub-
lic, and attached to the foil, more readily
admitted of univerfal relaxation and in-
dulgence, than it did among the Athenians,
where they were chiefly private property.
B 4 There
24 On the Treatment and
There is fuch a conformity, not only in
thefe, but other particulars, between the
laws of Mofes, enacted during the fabulous
ages of Greece, and thefe laws, eftabliflied
in its improved ftate, long after that time,
by a people defervedly celebrated, as the
beft cultivated, the moil fenfible, and
humane among the ancient nations, as might
have fecured to that great man a little more
refped: than he in common meets with,
among the wits and reafoners of the prefent
age; who, while they deny his divine mif-
iion, in that denial, muft acknowledge his
foreiight, his benevolence, his knowledge
of the human heart, above every charafter
in antiquity. For his laws continue, at
this day, to be obeyed by a conliderable peo-
ple, in the moft inconvenient circum-
flances, while all other laws of former ages
are loft in the gulph of time, or are only
to be found in fragments in old negleded
books.*
In
* Even the law that abfolves a mafler for flaying his flave,
in the cafe of his not dying till two days after the ftroke,
bears a ftrong analogy to that tendernefs in the common law
of England, that diftinguiflies between homicide and murder,
and, as it were loth to find the culprit guilty, takes the
dea41inefs,
Conversion OF African Slaves. 25
In the infant ftate of Rome, ilaves
worked, and lived with their mafters, with-
out much diflindtion of rank or ufage.
But in proportion as luxury increafed among
the Romans, the condition of their Ilaves
funk gradually down to the loweil: degree of
wretchednefs and mifery. And indeed fuch
reprefentations as the ftatue of the dying
gladiator, which exhibits the life of a brave
ufeful man facri.ficed, not to the fafety of
his country, but to the barbarous whim of,
perhaps, the moft worthlefs fet of men that
ever were affembled together in one place;*
deadlinefs of the weapon into account; and it ftiews, that
among the Jews, the magiflrateinterpofed between the mafter
and his flave; which, in fome of our colonies, has not been
the cafe, even when ftiocking circumftances of murder have
loudly called for it.
* In what an amiable point of view doth the following
incident place the Athenians, even in their latter degenerate
ftate ? Some fycophants of the Romans, then their mailers,
had propofed to them, in a publick afTembly, to imitate their
lords, in the exhibition of ihows of prize fighters, and gladi-
ators in their theatres. A worthy citizen, who was prefent,
afFe£led to applaud the flattering meafure, and requelled his
fellow-citizens only firfl: to accompany him and help him to
throw down the altar, which, in their better times, they had
erefted to mercy. That fenfible people felt immediately
the grave rebuke; and were the only ftate in Greece, that
had courage to forbeay imitating the barbarity of their
conquerors.
the
26 On the Treatment and
the fcandalous traffic that the elder Cato
carried on in the natural feelings of his
Haves, his fetting them adrift to ftarve in
their old age,* when they could no longer
be ferviceable to him, the condemning of
them to fifh-ponds for trivial faults j all thefe
things mufl: fill every refled:ing man with
fuch abhorrence of, and indignation at, the
condud; of the Romans, in the charafter of
mafters, in their advanced ftate of empire,
as muft prove them unworthy of being
drawn into example, except to be execrated
for their condu(5l. While they fancied them-
felves lords of the world, they forgot that
they were men; while they indulged their
amufement, they ilifled their humanity.
Indeed, what could be expelled from a peo-
ple capable of receiving a law, that, accord-
• How inconfiftent with himfelf is man. He, who, in
his own conduft, could debafe himfelf by fuch afts of mean-
nefs and cruelty, when Cenfor, degraded Lucius, the brother
of Flaminius, becaufe he had indulged the capricious curiofity
of a favourite boy, with the fcene of a man dying a violent
death, in the perfon of a flave, whom, for that purpofe,
he flew with his own hand. — -The traffic referred to above,
was his locking up his female flaves, and hiring them out, by
the night, to fuch males as could lay down a certain price for
them.
ing
Conversion of African Slaves. 27
ing to the ufual interpretation of it, in a
cafe of infolvency, ordained a fellov/- citizen
to be cut piece meal, and be divided among
his creditors ?
But how miferable the condition of flaves
in general was among the ancients, may be
colledled from the opinion and example of
that benevolent and difcreet philofopher,
Plutarch, who yet has very freely cenfured
the inhuman behaviour of others. He af-
fures us, that the only effecflual way of nia-v
naging a Have is by the difcipline of the
whipj thataflaveis incapable of underflanding
any arguments, except ilripes, and a chain.
And agreeably to this opinion he is intro-
duced to us, as in a charafteriftic ad:ion of
his life, fliewing how coolly a philofopher
could flea the back of a poor friendlefs, help-
lefs wretch.* Farther, Demofthenes, who,
in
* The hiftory is this : He had ordered the Have to be cor-
refted. The fellow muttered; and obferved, that a man,
like his matter, who pretended to aft the Philofopher, and to
hold all his palTions and afteftions equally poifed, behaved
in a manner unbecoming his charadler, when, on any pciTible
provocation, he fell into fuch a paflion with a poor Have,
3.5 could be fatiated only by flalhing and cutting him un-
mercifully
28 On the Treatment and
in every thing refpeding the freedom, and
characfler of his country, feems infpired with
the very genius of liberty, lays it down as
a maxim not to be controverted, that the
higheil evidence, and teilimony moil to be
depended on, is what is forced out of a
flave by torture.
Adrian is the iirfl on record, who, by an
edidt, deprived the mafter of the power of
life and death in his family. As the bene-
volence of the Chrillian religion, about
his time, had fecretly, yet univerfally, in-
fmuated itfelf into the fentiments, and tinc-
tured the reafoning, of the learned j and as
he was more fond of the title of Philofo-
pher than of Emperor, it is beyond con-
jedture, that this edid:, at that particular
mercifully with a whip. Plutarch, quibbling with the wretch,
obferves, in anfwer, that paffion generally had marks by
which its prefence was denoted : an elevated tone, a flulhing
countenance, a threatening look ; could he have any of thefe,
or the violence that they expreffed, who argued the matter
with all the calmnefs of a ftoic. And as the executioner
had interrupted his ftrokes, waiting for the iifue of the
difcourfe, he coolly bids him proceed in his method of incul-
cating knowledge by the whip, while he and Syrus difcufTed
the fubjeft philofophically. But a man mull have fpent fome
time in the fouthern provinces of North America, or our fugar
colonics, to be able to imagine the fccne,
time^
Conversion of African Slaves. 29
time, owed its origin to revealed religion ;
and within a fliort period after this, perfonal
flavery, by the fame influence, was abolifhed
throughout the empire*.
SECT III.
Mafter and Slave in Gothic Times.
The inundation of the northern nations,
that broke into the Roman Empire, and the
feudal tenures that were introduced by it,
gave rife to a new fpecies of flavery in Eu-
* Raynall aflerts, that the abolition of flavery and Paga
nifm, by edift, in the time of Conftantine, brought on the
ruin of the Roman Empire. Doubtlefs every violent change
in a ftate, muft bring danger with it. But, perhaps, it will
be difficult for any, but a modern philofopher, who follows
Hume in his paradoxes, to conceive how the extenfion of
fentiment and freedom fliould fpread ruin among a p6ople.
That empire had begun to nod to its fall, long before this
change could have produced any cffeft. The univerfal de-
generacy of manners, the contempt of religion, the preva-
lence of Epicurean notions, the difregard of national cha-
rafter, the effeminacy of the foldiers, their lofs of difcipline,
the inftability of the government, and the natural courfe of
human grandeur, are fufficient to account for the downfal
of that fabric, under the rude Ihock of furrounding favages.
That Chriftianity produced this effeft of abolifhing flavery,
is the opinion alfo of Fletcher ; for which fee Scft. IV. of this
chapter.
rope.
^o On the Treatment anb
rope, the remains of which are yet to be
found, particularly in Denmark and Poland*
But it appears, that, in general, this flavery
confifted in obliging the conquered nations
to cultivate their own lands, and render to
the conquerors fuch a part of the produce
as they thought proper to afcertain. This
condition naturally connedled the labourers
with the foil which they cultivated; and it
rofe into a cuflom to transfer them together
from one proprietor to another : and, doubt-
lefs, there were many reduced alfo to the
condition of domeftic ilaves. But, like
the Swedilh prifoners made at the battle of
Pultowa, they became the teachers and re-
formers of their mafters . And as thefe were
by degrees converted to religion and won to
civilized life, fo this ftate of fubordination went
on approaching gradually to the condition of
equality, or rather of that reciprocal focial
dependence, which we have ihewn muft exift
between the fervant and mailer. And among
the many fad things that we every day hear
of popes, priefts, and prieftcraft, this mull
be acknowledged to their credit, (they are
indeed charged with it by their enemies) that
their influence was conllantly ufed with the
converts^
Conversion of African Slaves. 31
converts, to procure the manumiffion, or
at leail; the humane treatment of their flaves.
Such has been conftantly the natural effe(5l of
Chriftianity, in every pofTible form, to
favour perfonal as well as mental liberty,
till the gradual improvement of fociety, the
exteniion of fentiment, and flu(5luation of
property, become fufficient to change per-
fonal llavery into a voluntary compact of fer-
vicQ and fidelity on the one fide, of wages and
protection on the other : a compadt, v/hich
fuppofeth that ftate of mutual dependence
effential to poiiflied fociety, and which
may be confidered as entering originally
into the plan thereof, and I trull is not intirely
out of fight in the cafe of which we treat.*
Indeed this latter fiavery, in its woril ftate,
muft, after the converfion of the mafiiers, have
been far preferable to the ancient fiavery of the
heathens, or the modern fiavery of the negroes
in the European colonies. The Chrifi:ian flaves
of Chrifi:ian mafters were confidered as entitled
to certain rights, on which a mafier could
* The Banians in India are, at this day, fupplied with
flaves from Abyfllnia. But as foon as they are brought home,
they are treated as children of tlie family ; they are inftrudled
in fome ufeful trade ; they are allowed to raife families, and
maintain them with the profits of their labour, with which the
mailer meddles not.
not
3^
On the Treatment and
not encroach : particularly, the making of the
ceremony of marriage a religious folemnity,
and its obligations of confequence indilTo-
luble, except by death, drew after it all the
claims and rights of a family. Their wor-
fhipping at the fame altar, and their being
confidered as entitled, equally with their
mailers, to all the fpiritual advantages an-
nexed to the profeffion of Chriftianity,
were circumftances which the priefts were
careful to ufe to the beil advantage in their
favour: and, in an age, wherein the pro-
mifes and threats of religion influenced, at
leaft, the outward condud: of the people,
and its dodrines made generally a part of the
reafoning in ufcj* when its minifliers were
held in honour, and their injuncflions car-
ried with them reverence and authority for
their Mafter's fake, thefe were effed;ual and
prevailing topics. The people alfo reaped
advantages from thefe difputes between the
* This Is exceedingly well exemplified in what is called the
truce of God or the church, when the fabbaths, and folemn
times, and feftivals of the church, gave a refpite to thofc
cruel depredations and murders that each village-tyrant or
lord of a caftle, thofe former felf-ere£led legiilators, thought
himfelf permitted, at other times, to perpetrate among his
neighbours,
kings
Conversion of African Slaves. 33
kings and their barons. Kings favoured the
liberty of burghers and peafants, becaufe
every individual abfolved of his allegiance
to a baron, was an auxiliary detached from
an enemy or rival lord.*
Had Europe, as a much diflinguifhed quar-
ter of the globe, reaped no other focial ad-
vantage from the eftablifliment of Chrifti-
anity than the abolition of llavery, this
benefit alone would have been immenfe;
the fuperiority gained by it over the reft of
the world would have been incredible.
And with what fhame and forrow muft we
remark, that (he, who has been raifed fo
high above her fellows, by the influence of
this heaven-defcended liberty, at this day is,
and, for more than two centuries paft, has
* Though, ill many cafes, this was only changing one ty-
rant for another ; yet the people favoured the meafure, becaufe
they have constantly found an oppreflbr intolerable in the in-
verfc ratio of his rank and extent of power. " A poor man,
" oppreffing the poor," faith Solomon, " is like a fweeping
" rain," he leaves no food. To give fecurity to the members
of any ftate, the community mull be of that extent and
power which will make it refpeftable among its neighbours j
and its governors muft be removed fo far from the level of
other citizens, that private intereft or refentment may not
fenfibly influence their publick condud. But this can hardly
ever be the cafe in fmall ftates.
C been.
24 On the Treatment anb
been, flriving with all the venturous energ/
of a commercial fpirit, to eftablifli flavery
in the new world -, in a region, where the
curfe of flavery was unknown, till, through
an infernal love of gold, Ihe introduced and
fixed it? But when the Englifh, (for though
the Portuguefe and Spaniards had tranfported
Africans more early to their American fet-
tlements; yet Hawkins, an Englilhman, is
faid firfl to have given occafion for the pre-
fent inhuman trade) a nation moft highly
favoured of liberty, is viewed as taking the
lead in this odious traffic, and as bending
down the foul in utter darknefs, the more
effeftually to enilave the body ; freedom
muft blulh indignantly, while humanity
mourns over the reproachful tale.* Would
God
* It mull fill the reader with very ferlous refleftions, to
be told, that, fince the year 1759, the Britilh African trade
has been, in a great proportion, turned to the fupplying of
the French iflands with flaves. This has given a moft rapid
improvement to their fugar plantations ; and there is laid a
foundation for fuch a naval force, as if not guarded againft in
time may avenge humanity on our nation for this fhocking
traffic, which it has carried on to a greater extent than all
the reft of Europe, with peculiar circumftances of barbarity
and cruelty
Conversion of African Slaves. 35
God we might indulge the hope, that
the fame people, who firil riveted, might alfo
firft cut afunder, the iron chain which dif-
graces our nature and nation, in the weftern
world; and that a people, who have rifqued
their own exiilence, frequently, as a ftate,
to keep one continental tyrant from ridding
the world of another, might at laft have
wifdom to render themfelves rich and pow-
erful, by reftoring to liberty, and recover-
ing to fociety and reafon, the exiled fons
of Africa!* But
* In the month of March 17S3> the following circumftances
came out in the trial of a cafe of infurance at Guildhall.
An ignorant mafter of a flave-fliip had overfhot his port,
Jamaica, and v/as afraid of wanting water befoie he could
beat up again to the ifland. He himfelf fell fick. In the
coarfe of his illnefs, he ordered his mate, who was the
man that gave the evidence, to throw overboard 46 Haves,
hand-cuffed ; and he was readily obeyed- Two days after he
ordered 36 more to be thrown after them, and after two days
more another parcel of 40. Ten others, who had been per-
mitted to take the air on deck, unfettered, jumped Into the
fea indignantly after them. The fhip, after all, brought
into port ^80 gallons of water. Can humanity imagine that
it was meant, in any poflible circumftances, to fubmit the fate
of fuch numbers of reafonable creatures to the reveries of
a fick monfler ; or that his brutal inftrument fhould dare to
boaft of his obedience, and even do it with impunity, in the
higheft criminal court of the bell informed people of Europe ?
The Incas of Peru conquered to polilh and improve.
When they came to a brutifli people, who could not readily
C 2 apprehend
36 On the TreatiyIent and
But before I conlider flaveryas it has been
introduced and eiliablifhed by Europeans
in the weftern world, I fhall lay before the
reader a plan of that celebrated friend to
liberty, Fletcher, of Saltoun, for reducing
apprehend their inftrudtions. Let us turn, faid they, from thefc
incorrigible animals, and feek out a people worthy of being
our fcholars. The favages of America are fo wholly without
the conception of the poffibility of one man's being fubmitted
to the will of another, that they know no medium between
roafting their prifoners, and adopting them into their families.
The Europeans, fettled in the fame country, could traverfe
the vaft Atlantic to traffic for, enflave, and fell, wretches
unknown to them, who never injured them; nay, could
keep working in iron chains their own unhappy countrymen
fent among them : while they boaft of having vindicated
for themfelves, as the natural inheritance of freedom, a total
independence on all authority not originating from them-
felves. Reafon, as found in praftice among men, is but a
name, when feparated from intereft. — It is but juftice due to
the Weil Indian proprietors to obferve that the planters of
tobacco and rice, in America, in common, not only treated their
African (laves and Englilh convifts, but even fober, honeft
people, who, to pay for their paiTage from Europe, had been
obliged to fell their fervice for five years, with full as much
feverity as was praftifed only on Africans in thefugar iflands ;
and, what was inexcufable, in a country where provifions coll
labour only, even pinched them in their food. Indented fer-
vants v/ere tied up, and lalhed cruelly on the moft trifling
occafions. They were made to drag iron rings of ten or twelve
pounds weight, hammered round their ancles, and fleep a»
they could, with heavy iron chains and crooks round their
necks.
his
Conversion of African Slaves. 37
his country back into the ancient ftate of
mafter and flave, in order to obviate fome
temporary inconveniences imagined to arife
from freedom. And as he does this with
an appearance of reafoning, and, indeed,
fuggefls things that would be exceedingly
proper to be attended to, in the firfl dawn-
ings of liberty; I fliall at once coniider his
propofal, and add fuch obfervations as na-
turally arife from it.
SECT. IV.
Mafter and Slave, as propofed for Scotland,
Anno 1698.
Soon after the revolution, Scotland was af-
flidted with four or five fucceffive unfruitful
years, that, in its then improvident method
of agriculture, reduced it to a flate of
famine, which is ftill remembered under
the name of the Dear Tears. Many^died of
want, and thoufands, all over the country,
were reduced to beggary; the Highlanders,
efpecially, fuifered greatly, and came down
and overfpread the low- lands; and, where
C 3 they
^8 On the Treatment and
they did not fucceed by begging, made no
fcruple to ileal and rob, to fupply their wants.
In this lituation of things, when the poor
Were numerous, few manufactures eilablifli-
ed, and the fiiheries lay neglecfled, did
Fletcher propofe his plan of ilavery, founds
ing it on a ftatute enad:ed Anno 1579, which
empowered any fubjed: of fufficient eftate
to take the child of any beggar, and educate
him for his own fervice, for a certain term
of years, which term was extended Anno
1597 for life.
He obferves, that hiiliory makes no men^
tion of poor or beggars in ancient times,
becaufe all the poor, bejng flaves, were main-
tained by their own mafters. He fays, no
modern ftate, except Holland, by the aid of
its manufacSlures, has been able to employ
or maintain its poor: that this new burthen
has been brought on fociety by churchmen,
who either by miftake or deiign have con-
founded things fpiritual and temporal, and
all good order, and good government, by re-
commending it to mailers to fave their fouls,
by fetting at liberty fuch of their flaves as
fhould embrace the Chriflian faith; in con-
tra4i<?;ion to our Saviour, who was far from
uling
Conversion of African Slaves. 39
uling temporal advantages to enforce eternal
truths; and to St. Paul, who, i Cor. vii.
poiitively gives the preference to llavery.
Hence we date hofpitals, alms-houfes, and
contributions ; burdens, which we find fo
heavy on the community, and fo inadequate
to the purpofe.
He ftates the common objediions urged
againft llavery ^ that men are equal by nature^
that it is unjufl to fubmit the feelings and
happinefs of the major part of a commu-
nity, to the oppreffion and barbarity of the
fewj and that the tyrant, who enllaves his
country, has the fame plea for profecuting his
ambitious views, that a rich man can offer
for bringing his fellows into bondage to him.
He anfwers thefe by diflinguifhing between
political and domeftic flavery, affirming that
the latter has been difgraced, by having been
confounded vv'ith the other, which alone de-
ferves the name of flavery, as being fub-
mitted, not to law, which may regulate
domeftic flavery, but to a jealous tyrant's
caprice : that it is the interefl of every
mafter to ufe his flaves well, in order that he
may reap the full advantage of their labour:
that occafional deviations from the fug-
C 4 geftions
40 On the Treatment and
geftions of this prudence may be prevented
by proper laws and regulations, and by the
watchful care of a judge appointed for that
purpofe.
He fhews the advantages Vi^hich would
accompany this eftablifhment, by ftating
what was the cafe in ancient times. The
ancients had no poor caft loofe on the pub-
lic. They could, without poiTeffing much
other wealth, undertake, with their Haves,
great public and private works: and this
manner of employing their Haves and their
wealth, preferved among them a fimplicity
of manners, and living, not otherwife to
be accounted for. Mailers knew nothing of
the vexation of hired fervants, who, after
having been educated at a great expence for
a man's fervice, will leave him on the moil
trilling occafion. Their Haves, in hopes
of obtaining their liberty, had an emula-
tion to pieafe; and their being able to pof-
fefs nothing, took away that temptation to
pilfer, fo commonly the propenfity of hired
fervants, and, indeed, fometimes rendered
neceflary for them to fupport their families.
He propofeth that vagabonds, and fuch
poor as cannot maintain themfelves, be pro-'
portioned
Conversion of African Slaves. 41
portioned out to men of a certain eftate, to
bs employed in their grounds, that their
children be brought up to fuch ufeful manu-
fadiures as can be carried on at home; and
that the public may not, in any cafe, lofe
the benefit of their labour, they and their
children Ihall be transferable for ever.*
He
* Vagabond beggars are a nuifance which call loudly for
redrefs, and which every well regulated fociety will exert
itfelf to get rid of. Let every vagabond be confidered as the
property of the public. Let a day be fixed, by proclama-
tion, for apprehending them throughout the kingdom. Let
their fervice be fold for feven years to fuch as have employ-
ment for them. Let the money got for the ftrong be given
with the weak. If, at the expiration of their flavery, they
fhew a difpoiition to fettle, and can make a private bargain
w ith any refponfible perfon, who will anfwer to the public
for their behaviour, and will take them to work on the
footing of free labourers, let them be difcharged. This
will excite them to be honeft and faithful. Slavery, ex-
cept for a crime that forfeits life, fhould not be for life,
that it may not perpetuate flavery in their children. Every
vagabond chiLl fliould be brought up to fome ufeful calling,
and be free at thirty years of age. They all, when reftored
to freedom, fhould be allowed a fettlement.
A particular magiftrate fliould fuperintend their treatment,
hear, and decide on their and their mafcers complaints. If at
the termination of any period of flavery, they be found un-
worthy of freedom, let them be fold anew. If purchafers
do not offer, let them be divided by lot, and their children
be apprentices. Coarfe, wholefome food fhould be allotted
them, the kind and minimum being fixed by law^
If
42 On the Treatment anb
He thinks the mailer fhould not have
power over the life of his fervant, but fhould
anfwer for it w^ith his own. He fhould not
torture or mutilate him : if convicted of fuch
ill treatment, he fhould free his flave, and
If pariflies were obliged to improve their commons, there
would be full employment for them ; and every thief, being
£t& marked, fhould be added to the number. When reftored
to freedom, they might have a cottage and garden given
them, in full right, which they may prepare during 'he
time of their fervitude.
Such a ftate would be far beyond the condition of a vaga-
bond, a wretch, that regards neither divine nor human laws,
but wallows in every impurity and low vice. Thefe regula-
tions, properly purfued for one generation, would annihilate
the evil ; the very dread of being fold, and working at the
will of another, would recover the greateft part of them to
labour and fociety. But this remedy ffiould be flriftly con-
fined to thieves and vagabonds, and only while they continued
fuch.
At prefent our poor laws are calculated to encourage lazinefs,
by fupporting an idle man in as much plenty as him who-
labours and gets his bread honeftly. When fick, the poor
fhould be tenderly cared for; but when only idle they fhould
have a fcanty coarfe fare, and clothes made up of patches, to
make their fituation irkfome to them. Thofe that have large
families fhould have every reafonable indulgence, and the
burden of their children fhould be made eafy to them. All
fmgle ftrollers fhould be flridlly dealt with. Wherever the
indolence of thofe that are fupported by charity is fufpeftedj
their pittance fhould not be given in money, but in food, from
day to day ; and there fhould, as in hofpita.ls, be rates of full,
'ks.lf, and third allowance,
fix
Conversion of African Slaves. 43
hx a penfion on him. The fervant's family
fhould be provided for in clothes, diet, and
lodging. His children fliould be infi;rud:ed in
the principles of morality and religion, be
taught to read, and be farnifhed with proper
books. They fhall not v^ork on Sundays;
but have liberty to go to church. In every
circumftance, but that of not poiTeffing
property, and their labour being diredled at
the will of another, they fhall not be under
the rule of their mafters, but the prote6lion
of the law. When grown, by age, ufelefs
to their mafters, they fhall be received into
public hofpitals. If their mafter, on any
account, make them free, he fliall either
accommodate them with a penfion, or put
them in a way of living, that v/ill keep them
from becoming burdenfome to the public.
To check the abufe of power in the mafter,
a magiftrate ftiould be appointed to fee that
juftice be done them.
Now, however inadmiffible fuch a ftate
of fervitude may be, in a country v/here li-
berty is the eftablifhed birth-right of the
loweft member of the community, yet,
would heaven, that the flavery in our fugar
colonies were only what is here propofed.
We
44 On the Treatment and
We muft then drop many of our objedions
againfl it. Still the arguments againfl this
degree of it are unanfwefable.
He fuppofeth that a fenfe of intereft will
prevent the abufe of power in the mailer.
There cannot be a fairer deduction in theory,
(which was all that he could have to go
upon) nor is there one more falfe in fad:.
Even fhould we afcribe the treatment which
Africans meet with from their mailers,
not wholly to an abufe of power, but, in
fome meafure, alfo to a perfuaiion, whether
it be true or falfe, that becaufe of
their inferiority we are not obliged to treat
them well -, how comes it that fober, in-
dented, white fervants, are treated with
equal, perhaps fuperior cruelty by their
North American mailers; in confequence of
which, not more than one in iive furvives
even a temporary llavery of iive years, in a
condition to fettle a habitation and family
for himfelf ? Revenge for contradiction or
faults in an inferior, whether real or ima-
gined, will not allow the cooler aifed:ions
of the mind to operate, but drives at once,
like an eagle on its helpiefs prey, heedlefs
how far the avenger himfelf may be involved
in the mifchief.
Nor
Conversion of African Slaves. 45
Nor, though his magiftrate be an exceed-
ing proper and neceffary check, would he,
or could he, if ever fo impartial and watch-
ful, be able to enfure good ufage to fervants,
from the ignorant, the parfimonious, the
luxurious, the extravagant, the capricious,
the paffionate, the fpiteful mafter. In a
thoufand ways may they be, and they daily
are, tormented, which no law can provide
againft, no care can poffibly remedy.
His diltmdion between political and do-
meflic flavery, except wherein they refpedt
different objed:s, is imaginary and incon-
cjufive> when applied to individuals; or
whatever difference there is, will be found
to conclude againft the latter. The great
tyrant has not the opportunity of exerciling
his lufc of opprefiion over individuals, ex-
cept they {land oppofed to his power; and
a quiet man may, in an extenfive country,
pafs his time tolerably eafy and fecure under
the moil arbitrary government. But the
domeftic tyrant can teize and torment every
wretch fubmittcd to his power, every mo-
ment of their lives. They cannot eat or
lleep, but when and how he pleafeth. Every
feeling, every indulgence, is held at his
pleafure;
46 On the Treatment Ann
pleafure; and too often he feels a fpitefu!
amufement, an infernal delight, in unnecef-
farily imbittering their miferable cup, even
at the expence of his own eafe and interefl.
That the heavenly Preacher of peace and
good v^ill towards men, fhould be fuppofed
to have encouraged an unnatural ftate of
fociety, which, in its very inftitution, muil:
counteraft in the fuperior every benevolent
inclination from man to man 3 and muil go
far to fupprefs in the inferior every delire
after that intelled:uai improvement, and
heavenly happinefs, to point out the way
to which was the very dtfign of his hu-
miliation ; is fuch blafphemy againfl the
divine goodnefs and condefceniion of his
miffion, and is fo flatly contradicted by the
whole tenor of his dodirine, as to be utterly
unworthy of any anfwer. St. Paul again is
prefTed into the fervice of ilavery, again ft
the plain grammatical fenfe of the expref-
lion in the original, and the whole fcope
of his argument : of fo much more weight
than truth is the driving of a favorite point.
After generally remarking, that, notwith-
flanding any fuppofed particular inconve-
niences, political happinefs, by the exteniion
of
Conversion of African Slaves. 47
of freedom, has been extended far beyond
what the v^armeft imagination could con-
ceive; we may allow churchmen in the com-
pany of their Mafter and his apoflle, to reft
fatished with the blame of having been the
means of abolifhing flavery; and may hope
that this writer's authority, in this cafe, may
fland them in fome ftead again ft that more
general reproach caft on them of their be-
ing the worfhippers of power in whatever
hands it is found.
By depriving a fervant of property, as he
propofes, we know, that, in fa6t, you make
him carelefs and defperate. The beft way of
fecuring his fidelity and honefty, is to con-
trive that he may have property to care for
and fear the lofs of. If a Have has deferted
the plantation, the moft effedtual way to
bring him back is to give out, that you mean,
if he does not return, by fuch a day, to pull
his houfe down. He remarks that the Hi?h-
o
landers of his days were favage thieves and
beggars, becaufe fubje(5t to their chieftains;
and would not his eftabliftiment of the like
fubjedlion in the civilized low-lands, in time,
produce the like eifed:s? A Chriftian would
refolve the filence concerning the poor in
the
48 On the Treatment and
the heathen world, to their not being deemed
an objedl either of hiftory or philofophy;
or to that common tie between man and
man, which revelation inculcates, not be-
ing then acknowledged, to make the relief
of their diflrefs a matter of duty or merit.
But if no poor were then fupported by
private benevolence, was no mifery therefore
felt? What were the early feditions at Rome,
but ftruggles between wealth and poverty,
till war and diftant conquefl: had enriched or
drawn off the oppreffed flarving multitude ?
Indeed, ^^here was there room left for public
beggars, when the poor were Haves, and had
only their own mafter to whom to cry for
help ? Yet the elder Cato turned out fome
beggars on the public, in a manner not
greatly to his credit. Among the Jews, the
rigours of flavery were foftened by religion;
and there the poor, from the firll, were an
object of law. Their law-givers informed
them, that in their moil fiourifhing flate,
there fliould be always poor among them,
whom they were to confider as the Lord's
penlioners, who were in his name to receive,
from their wealthy neighbours, that tribute of
grateful thanks which his goodnefs claimed
from
CbNVERSION OF AFRICAN SLAVES. 49
from them. And, doubtlefs, had this duty
been propofed, from the like motives, in
other ftates, proper objects of it would not
have been found wanting,
A better reafon to be given for the fim-
plicity of the ancient maimer of living may
be found in the little communication which
there was between different countries for the
purpofe of exchanging modes and iaperflu-
ities. Thofe who live now on the produce
of their own grounds, live as uniformly,
and fmiply as the ancients did. But was the
Roman mode fimple after the conqueft of
Afia? He mentions the public works of the
ancients. Do we know thofe of any ftate
that in grandeur or utility may be compared
to the floating fortrefles of Britain, which
carry the arms and power of the flate around
the world ?
Why the public fhould build hofpitals to
receive flaves, worn down in the fervice of
private perfons, he gives not a reafon; nor
is any obvious. If the ancients were not
troubled with the refllefs ingratitude and
pilfering habits of hired fervants, did they feel
no inconveniency from the fullen intrad:able
difpofition of flaves, whom they could not
D get
5©
On the Treatment and
get rid of? Or, if the deiire of freedom ex-
cited the emulation of a flave, would it not
make him alfo feel the immediate hardlhips
of flavery ? would he not, with defpair, look
around him, and view many Haves transfer-
red from one mafter to another; often from
good to bad, without acquiring that liberty
which they had endeavoured to deferve by
their fidelity ? and would he not anticipate
the like fate, and lofe all defire of exertion ?
Is not this indeed the general cafe, at this
day, in the fugar colonies ?
Fletcher fuppofes that neceffity will drive
his country into the meafure of flavery. It
is near a century fince he hazarded this opi-
nion ; and infiiead thereof, by the abolifh-
ing of jurifdid:ions, more liberty, and
greater privileges have been communicated
to it: and the confequence has been a more
general extenfion of political happinefs, and
private conveniency. Had his plan taken
place, would fo many towns have arifen, or
been enlarged in various parts of the country?
Should we have heard of the manufactures
at Paifly ? Could Glafgow have been able to
have endured a lofs (even fuppofing it only
temporary) of perhaps a million of money,
by American independency, almoft with-
out
Conversion of African Slaves. 51
out once complaining? Would a few over*
grown landlords have allowed the Bri-
tiih army and navy to have been filled up
and recruited out of their gangs of Haves,
by the many ten thoufands of Scotchmen,
that in every war, fmce his time, have bled
fometimes for the rights of the empire,
fometimes to quiet the popular alarms, about
that bugbear, the balance of power ? Would
oppreiTed, half flarved Haves have made fuch
hardy foldiers ; or, like them, endured,
without complaint, every various oppofite
climate, in carrying on the public fervice?
It is true Scotland ftill labours under dif-
advantages. The tenant is not fufficiently
fecured againft the extortion of the landlord.
But what would be gained by reducing a
great proportion of thefe tenant-s and their
pofterity into the condition of ilaves ? Would
they be allowed to live plentifully, when their
lords wanted to parade it at court ? Or are
luxury and extravagance to be fatisfied, while
gny thing within their reach remains to be
devoured ? If flavery had been ellabliilied on
his plan, would not power and intrigue have
been ufed, to draw v/ithin its circle as many
as poffible, till mailer and flave had abforbed
D 2 every
52 On the Treatment and
every other rank ? No, let lazinefs and vice
be effediually reftrained, even by retraining
that liberty and privileges v/hich they juftly
forfeit. But fet not one man paramount
over another. Let their country and its laws
remain mafters of their fate.
SECT. V.
Mailer and Slave in the French Colonies.
In the French colonies, the public pays an
immediate attention to the treatment and
inftrud:ion of Haves. The intendants are
charged v^ith their protedlion, proper mif-
iionaries are appointed for thepurpofe of train-
ing them up to a certain degree of religious
Jcnovi^ledge ; and ample eilates or funds are
allotted for the maintenance of thofe eccle-
liaftics. The negroes, as foon as introduced
into the colony, are put under the care of
thefe laft. The mailer is obliged to acquaint
the governor or intendant, within eight days,
of every African Have whom he has pur-
chafed, that a millionary may be afligned to
inllrudt him. All the fafls and fellivals of the
Romi{h
Conversion of African Slaves. 53
Romifli church, which it is well known arc
very numerous, are commanded to be ilriAly
obferved, during which the flave is forbid-
den to labour, that he may have leifure to
attend mafs.
Everv flave has a claim to a certain allow-
ance of food and clothing, which is not
to be diminiftied by their mailers, under
pretence of having given him time to work
for himfelf. The power of the mailer is
reflrained to the whip and chains he may
not wound or mutilate his. flave. On ill
treatment received from his mailer, or on
being deprived of his allowance of food and
raiment, the flave is dire(fted to apply to the
King's attorney, who is obliged to profecute
the mailer forthwith. This oificer is alfo
bound to profecute, if by any other means
he hears of the abufe. This reafon is added
in the law, ** This we will to be obferved,
** to check the abufe of power in the mailer,"
If a flave rendered unferviceable, through
age, hurts, or difeafe, be turned adrift by
his mailer, he is to be placed in the public
hofpital, and to be maintained there at the
expence of his mailer. Thefe are fomc of the
regulations eilabliihed by the Code Noir,
to check the exorbitancy of mailers ji an in-
D 3 ilance
54 On the Treatment and
ftance of attention and benevolence in the
French government, that may v^ell put Bri-
tifh^ negligence to fhame.
The refpefl: in which marriage is held,
"brings a farther advantage to French ilaves.
The ceremony is folemnized by the prieft,
and the tie continues for life. This gives
them an attachment to their little families,
and a concern for their intereft, and of con-
fequence a care over them, and their own
behaviour, that is feldom feen among
Englifh flaves ; where the connexion between
the fexes is arbitrary, and too frequently
cafualj where a male Have reckons it apiece
of ftate to multiply his wives, and change
thematpleafure, without looking beyond the
prefent gratification, or conlidering how his
condufl may affed: the fate of his offspring.
Care is alfo taken in the French iilands to
marry them young, in the fame plantation ;
and if they perceive a particular attachment
between two young people, belonging to
different mailers, it is common to refign or
exchange them, that they may both have the
fame owner, and that marriage may have its
full effedl on their condud,*
The
* A gentleman of Guadaloupe, Monlieur S-eguer, informed
jne, that, with fome pains, he had brought it about to have
' all
Conversion OF African.Slaves. 55
The French Haves reap a confiderable ad-
vantage from the prefence of their ov^ners.
One caufe of this is, that, in the colonies,
they enjoy more liberty, and pay fewer taxes
than in France/* An Englifh planter, if
out
all his flaves married within his own plantations ; and that
by making them all people of property, in allowing to each
his bit of land, with a hog, a goat, and fome poultry, and
by fome extraordinary pains ufed to inftruft them, he had
brought them to a degree of healthinefs, good fenfe, trafta-
bility, and happinefs uncommon among his neighbours. And
I fhall here remark, generally, that nothing has a happier
eiFe£l in reforming or improving a Have, than the giving him
fomething of his own to care for, and fear the lofs of.
* The French governors have liberal appointments from
the crown to fet them above the neceihty, and to take away
the temptation of oppreffing their people by extraordinary
fees from them in the manner of our Weft Indian governors,
who, to the difgrace of the government that appointed them,
are forced to colleft their maintenance in perquifites from thofe
who have bufmefs with them. The Britifh colonies are alfo
made the property of patent officers, the profit of whofe
places confifts wholly in perquifites, and is in general farmed
from the principals in England by two or three fubftitutes in
fucceffion, till the immediate pofTefTor be obliged, in his own
defence, to commit afts of oppreffion, to make up his
rent. And fuch is the corrupt influence at our court of thefe
fine cure patentees, as to have procured a Itanding inftruftion
to governors to oppofe and render null every attempt made
by provincial afiemblies to regulate their fees of office, or
^heck their extortion. Thus the government of the mother
D 4 country
56 , ©N THE Treatment and
out of debt, or a cafual crop be plentiful,
muft run away to England, v/hich he calls
his home, where generally loft to every ufe-
ful purpofe in life, he vies with the nobi-
lity in entertainments, extravagance, and ex-
pence, while his attorney, and manager, are
obliged to over-work, and pinch, his poor
flaves, to keep up, or increafe the ufual re-
mittances. It would make indignation her-
felf almoft fmile to hear their piteous com-
plaining letters to their agents read, when
the neceffities of the plantation have occa-
fioned a fmall draught to be made on them.
And often the manager, whom the caprice,
or felfiih, or family views of an attorney
country is deprived of the affiftance of men of charafler and
fubftance in public offices, to fupport its influence in the
colonies ; while thefe have impofed'on them a moft humiliating
and burdenfome badge of flavery, and have all their interefts,
and all improvements of their police facrificed to the felfifh
views of men whom they never faw. It has alfo been ufual
of late years to permit the cuftom.houfe officers to hold their
places ihy deputies, doubtlefs, to the great improvement of
the revenue. The intercourfe between our Weft Indian colo-
nies is by fmall veffels Carrying ^^40 or jT ^o freight. The
cuftom-houfes force full one half of this fum out of them,
under the name of (not taxes but) fees. The confequence
is, that when provifiofts or ftores are unloaded in one ifland,
they cannot, but in extreme neceffity, be reihipped for another
iflando
can.
Conversion of African Slaves, t^j
can, without warning, difplace, looks not for-
ward to the confequences of ill treatment of
flaves, while trying to recommend himfelf by
a forced exertion of their ftrength, in hopes
that its pernicious effedts may poffibly not
appear in his time.* If the Engliili owner
lives on his plantation, he is too often fo in-
volved in debt, the eifedts of his predecef-
for's, or his own former extravagance, or of
injudicious purchafes, that he can fpare little
from the preffing demands of his creditors,
to allot for the eafe, and well-being of Haves,
or indeed for any neceifary improvement of
his property. The French, as they gene-
rally live each on his own plantation, fo
they are happy in not having the credit, or
opportunity which the Engliih have of run-
ning in debt.-f* All their improvements muft
* Hence a planter always knows the ftate of his affairs beft,
&t the change of managers ; it generally requiring many
hundreds, fometimes thoufands of pounds, to fet matters
agoing under the new dire£lor ; an expence that might be
faved by ufmg a lefs parcimonious method in the ordinary
management of the plantation.
-}■ The whole debt owing by the Mardnico planters about
the year 1773 waseltimated nearly at 200,000!. fterling. St,
Chriftopher's, which, in proportion to its extent, is our richeft
colony, and maybe in value about one-third of the importance
of Martinico, though divided among fewer than 120 pro-
prietors, could not owe lefs at that time than 720,000!,
fterling.
arife
58 On the Treatment and
arife out of their induftry. They are there-
fore more gradual, and better founded, than
in our colonies, where it has been only ne-
ceiTary to "deliver into a merchant an exag-
gerated, pompous account of the richnefs of
the plantation on which the money is to be
raifed, to procure liberty for drawing on
him for thoufands after thoufands. For-
merly induflry, in a courfe of years, raifed
immenfe fortunes in the Weil Indies^ few
have been raifed lince loans became frequent
in England. Borrowed money, fcldom^
one may fay hardly ever, has fucceeded^
when in any confiderable proportion to the
property mortgaged for it. Let others ex-
plain the caufe, I content myfelf with re-
cording the fad:. Thus French planters, not
having intereft money to provide, nor the
ambition of retiring to Europe, to Simulate
them in accumulating money, are not under
the neceffity of forcing their flaves beyond
their ftrength, in carrying on their planta-
tions to that exquifite degree of culture,
that is common in our colonies, and which
is eifed:ed, not fo much by contrivance and
method, or by increaling with proper care
and nourifhment the aaimal powers of their
Haves «
Conversion of African Slaves. 59
/laves, as by obliging them to extraordinary
efforts, that foon wear them out ; and which,
inftead of allowing them to increafe in the
courfe of nature, make conftant demands on
the Have market, to enable them tofupport the
character of the plantation. Far from plant-
ing, as we do, every rood of land that they
poffefs, in fugar cane, and depending on
foreign fupplies for food, the French try to
live as much as poffible within themfelves.
A conliderable proportion of land is fct apart
for provifions. A late edid: has reftrided the
minimum to one acre in ten. Farther, the
French plantation . Haves are attached to the
foil, and cannot be drawn off to pay debts,
or be fold feparate from it. This gives them
a lafting property in their huts, and little
fpots of ground. They may fafely cultivate
them, and not, as in the Britiih colonies,
fear their being turned out of poffeflion, or
transferred from one proprietor to another,
without regard had to their interefl: or feel-
ings. From thefe pircumftances, and from
their manners being more communicative,
the French, in the colonies, live more in a
family way among their Haves, than our
planters j they become more fenfible of their
wants
6o On the Treatment and
wants and abilities; they naturally contract
a regard and an affecflion for them; the flaves
are not hurried in their work, and enjoy a
greater plenty, and variety of wholefome
food, than when their allowance of mufty
flour, or weavily maize from America, is dealt
out to them from a fcanty, bruifed tin or
pewter meafure, by an unfeeling overfeer;
who perhaps recommends himfelf to his
abfent employer by the number of ihares
into which he has divided the wretched
pittance.'*
* Though the French government has cared thus humanely
for flaves, though the manners and circumftances of the
French planters peculiarly favour their good treatment; yet,
fmce the temper of the mailer mull ilill have great influence
on the condition of the flave, this will not prevent, nor can
we wonder, when we find, among the French, particular atls
oppreflive, and particular owners cruel. But in a vigorous
government, fuch as is that of France, thefe afts cannot be
frequent, nor thefe men numerous. On the other hand, we
mull acknowledge, that the free principles of our cQnllitutior)i
counteraft many of the ill effedls of our fcandalous negled of
the police of our colonies j and that the tyrannical nature of
the French government prevents the French from reaping the
fuir effe£ls of this their benevolent attention to the claims of
humanity. Had we governors and other officers as difmterelled
as the French, and afting under the like benevolent inftruc-
tions, the difterence would be highly in our favour ; and had
the French governors the fame principles to guide them as
we have, the French colonilts would enjoy a great acceflion
pf political happinefs.
Now
Conversion of AfHican Slaves. 6t
Now the obfervation is, that the French
Haves are more decently drelTed, are more
orderly, fenfible, and ten times more honefl
than Englilh fiaves. They ufe private prayer.
The field negroes begin and leave off work
with prayer; the black overfeer officiating
as priefl:. This cuflom of having field pray-
ers has been found fo encouraging and ufe-
ful, that many of the Englifh planters ia
Grenada, on their becoming owners of
French ilaves, kept it up on their planta-
tions; yet fome of thefe would have mocked
and fneered at the pradice, if propofed in
their own illands. In the French colonies
even in their towns, there is hardly occafion
for a lock to fecure goods, or fiore-houfes.
In our colonies, no door, or lock, is a
fufficient fecurity for any thing which a flave
can carry away. In Grenada, they have long
bitterly complained, that fince Englifh fiaves
came among them, they can keep nothing
fafe from being purloined, and that even the
honefty of their own old flaves has been
greatly debauched.
SECT,
62 On the Treatment an0
SECT.
Mailer and Slave in the Britifh Colonies.
To purfue the preceding obfervations,
which candour obliged us to make in favour
of our rivals, we muil acknowledge, that an
Engliih Have has nothing to check him in
ill doing, but the fears of the whip, and
that is a weak reftraint on a flarving, craving
appetite. The French flave is placed above
the folicitations of hunger j and refpediing
his behaviour, has, to the dread of pain,
fuperadded, as a guide, the hopes and fears
of religion, and the approbation and dif-
pleafure of his prieft. The French, in the
treatment of their Haves, regard the fug-
geftions of humanity, and enforce its didlates
by their laws. The Englilli have not paid
the leall attention to enforce by a law,,
either humanity or jufliice, as thefe may
refped: their flaves. Many are the refcridlions,
and fevere are the punifhments, to which
our ilaves are fubjefted. But if you except a
law, that Governor Leake got enadied in
Nevis, to diflinguifh petty larceny in Ilaves
from
Conversion OF African Slaves. 63
from felony; and a law in Grenada and
Jamaica, that obligeth mailers to allot to
their Haves a certain portion of land for the
growth of provifions; and one in this lafl
ifland, that grants them Saturday afternoon
for the culture of it; I recoiled: not a iingle
claufe in all our colony ads, (and I perufed
the feveral codes with the view of remarking
fuch) enaded to fecure to them the leall
humane treatment, or to fave them from the
capricious cruelty of an ignorant, unprin-
cipled mafter, oramorofe, unfeeling, overfeer^
Nay a horfe, a cow, or a fheep, is much
better protected with us by the lav/, than a
poor flave. For thefe, if found in a trefpafs,
are not to be injured, but fecured for their
owners; while a half ftarved negroe, may,
for breaking a fingle cane, which probably he
himfelf has planted, be hacked to pieces
with a cutlafs ; even though, perhaps, he be
incapable of reiiflance, or of running away
from the watchman, who finds him in the
fad. Nay, we have men among us, who
dare boaffc of their giving orders to their
watchmen, not to bring home any Have that
they find breaking of canes, but, as they
call it, to hide . them, that is to kill, and
bury
$4- On the Treatment and
bury them. And, accordingly, every now«
and-then, fome poor wretch is milTed, and
feme lacerated carcafe is difcovered.
Our countrymen are left, each to be guided
by his own changeable temper, and to be in-
fluenced by a femblance of felf-intereilj nor
have they any tie on them, in their behaviour
to the wretches under them, but this intereft,
often ill underftood; in fome perhaps there
maybe a defire after a reputation for humanity,
too frequently little guided by fentiment; in a
few benevolence dired:edbyconfcience. Slaves
are efteemed among us the in tire property of
their mailers, and as having, diftind: from
him, no right or interefh of their own.
And our conflitution has fuch an exceffive
bias to perfonal liberty, that in contradic-
tion to the maxims of every well ordered
ftate, it cannot, or will not, meddle with
private behaviour. Hence that want of
energy, vigour, and even propriety in every
department of our police. Many adlions
pafs daily unnoticed among us, that would
have degraded the higheft fenator of Rome
into one of the loweft tribes. Society pro-
fefles to diredt the actions of individuals to
the greatell public good; a purpofe to which
all
Conversion op African Slaves. 6^
all private interefl and gratification (hould
conftantly be made to give place. Hence
the true fecret of police, after having fecured
the lives, liberties, and properties of the
citizens, is to turn the condud: and induftry
of individuals to public profit, confidering
the flate as one whole, and leaving private
perfons, each to find his own particular hap-
pinefs in public profperity, checking every
appearance of a wayward difpofition, that
may make the man injurious to his neighbour,
or unprofitable to his country. What a field
do the Britiili territories offer for fuch a plan
of police ?
Indeed, with this view before us, our boafi:-
ed conflitution prefents only an uncultivated
wild. How much remains undone in the
various departments of commerce, of rural
economy, roads, rivers, commons, govern-
ment of towns, perfection of flaple commo-
dities, exclufive privileges, and the like ? In
the cafe of which we treat, the conftitution
lays no claim to the Have, but confines its
attention to the intercourfe of freemen, leav-
ing citizens at liberty, as mailers, to difpofe
of, and treat their Haves, with the fame in-
E difference.
66 On the Treatment and
diiFerence, if they pleafe, with the fame un-
feeling wantonnefs, which without con-
troul they may exercife on their cat-
tle.
While we refledt on the ftate of flavery in
our colonies, among the freefl: people in the
world, and extend our views to the like
inftances in hiilory, it becomes a mournful,
an humiliating conlideration in human na-
ture, to find that thofe men and nations,
whom liberty hath exalted, and who, there-
fore, ought to regard it tenderly in others,
are conftantly for reftraining its bleffings
within their own little circle, and delight
more in augmenting the train of their de-
pendents, than in adding to the rank of
fellow citizens, or in diffuiing the benefits
of freedom among their neighbours. Every
where, in every age, the chain of flavery
has been failiioned, and applied by the hand
of liberty. Every ancient, every mo-
dern flate gives fliameful evidence of the
truth, from the mock manumiffion of the
Greeks, by the Roman Flaminius, to the op-
prefTed ftate of the Dutch barrier, and
their laft Indian fettlements, begun while
they
Conversion of African Slaves, dj
they themfelves were ftruggling for free-
dom.*
It will perhaps be alledged, that this in-
conliderate treatment of flaves in our colo-
nies may, as is generally fuppofed in Bri-
tain, be the effedl of the illiberal turn of
the colonifts, accuftomed from their infancy to
trifle with the feelings, and fmile at the mi-
feries, of wretches born to be the drudges
of their avarice, and flaves of their caprice.
But it is to be remarked, that adventurers
from Europe are univerfally more cruel and
morofe towards flaves, than Creoles, or native
Wefl:-Indians. Indeed, whatever I fhall
have to fay of the condu(5t of individuals to-
* The Athenians never admitted ftrangers to the privilege
of citizenfhip ; Hercules, and one or two more, being the only
foreigners indulged with it. This accounts for the fhort period
of their once fplendid maritime empire. It is true the Ro-
mans fucceffively admitted their neighbours, according to their
vicinity, to the privilege of citizens ; but they afted from no
generous principle. They increafed the number of tyrants,
in proportion as their conquefts added new flaves to be kept in
fubjedion by them. Of this the fecial war is an undoubted
proof. Yet this conduft, though fpringiug from unworthy
motives, was followed with the befl effeds, and gave liability
50 a ftate, that conqueft otherwife might have ruined.
E 2 wards
68 On the Treatment and
wards flaves, and the inattention of mafters to-
wards their claims, may be applied with more
juftice to the new fettlers, than to the natives.
Often attachment will fecure from thefe laft
good ufage, while the flave has no hold on
the others ; nay, probably is degraded by
over-weening European pride, into a ftate
differing but in name from brutal, by a
treatment lefs generous, lefs confiderate,
than a horfe or an ox receives from them.
Oppreffion makes the wretches ftupid, and
their ftupidity becomes their crime, and
provokes their farther punifhment. In par-
ticular, in the colony from which the fol-
lowing obfervations are chiefly drawn, fo
great is the proportion of Europeans in all
its aftive flations, that the charadler of the
community mufl be taken from them, not
from the natives. And when one confiders
how thefe adventurers are ufually collccfled,
how often the refufe of each man's connec-
tions, of every trade, and every profefHon,
are thronged in upon them, much fenti-
ment, morality, or religion, cannot well be
expeded to be founfi within the circle of
their influence. This muil ferve as an apo-
logy
Conversion OF African Slaves. 69
logy for any thing feemingly fevere, that
may appear in the profecution of the fub-
jecft; to which we now return.*
The difcipline of a fugar plantation is as
exad: as that of a regiment : at four o'clock
in the morning the plantation bell rings to
call the Haves into the field. Their work
is to manure, dig, and hoe, plow the ground,
to plant, weed, and cut the cane, to bring
it to the mill, to have the juice expreifed,
and boiled into fugar. About nine o'clock,
they have half an hour for breakfaft, which
they take in the field. Again they fall to
work, and, according to the cuftom of the
plantation, continue until eleven o'clock, or
noon ', the bell then rings, and the Haves are
difperfed in the neighbourhood, to pick up
about the fences, in the mountains, and fal-
* We muft not confound every European fettler In
the above cenfure ; fentiment, and benevolence, refined
by education, influence feveral fuch within the author's
acquaintance. Indeed, whatever there is generally amifs in
the conduft of mailers to their flaves, arifes not fo much from
any particular depravity in them as men, as from the arbitrary
unnatural relation that exifts between them and their wretch-
ed dependents ; the efFedls of which, neither fentiment nor mo-
rality can at all times prevent,
E 7 low
JO On the Treatment and
low or wafte grounds, natural grafs and
weeds for the horfes and cattle. The time
allotted for this branch of work, and prepa-
ration of dinner, varies from an hour and an
half, to near three hours. In collecting pile
by pile their little bundles of grafs, the Haves
of low land plantations, frequently burnt up
by the fun, muft wander in their neigh-
bours grounds, perhaps more than two miles
from home. In their return, often fome
lazy fellow, of the intermediate plantation,
with the view of faving himfelf the trouble
of picking his own grafs, feizes on them,
and pretends to infifl on carrying them to
his mafter, for picking grafs, or being found
in his grounds -, a crime that forfeits the
bundle, and fubjedls the offender to twenty
lafhes of a long cart whip, of twifted lea-
thern thongs. The wretch, rather than be
carried to judgment in another man's plan-
tation, is fain to efcape with the lofs of his
bundle, and often to put up quietly with a
good drubbing from the robber into the
bargain. The hour of delivering in his
grafs, and renewing his tallc, approaches,
while hunger importunately folicits him to
remember
Conversion OF African Slaves. 71
remember its call; but he muft renew the
irkfome toil, and fearch out fame green,
fliady, unfrequented fpot, from which to
repair his lofs.
At one, or in fome plantations,^ at two
o'clock, the bell fummons them to deliver
in the tale of their grafs, and alTemble to
their field work. If the overfeer thinks their
bundles too fmall, or if they come too late
with them, they are punifhed with a num-
ber of ftripes from four to ten. Some maf-
ters, under a fit of carefulnefs for their cattle,
have gone as far as fifty ftripes, which effec-
tually difable the culprit for weeks. If a
Have has no grafs to deliver in, he keeps away
out of fear, fkulks about in the mountains,
and is abfent from his work often for
months ; an aggravation of his crime, which,
when he is caught, he is made to remember.
About half an hour before fun fet, they
may be found fcattered again over the land,
lixke the Ifraelites in Egypt, to cull, blade
by blade, from among the weeds, their fcanty
parcels of grafs. About feven o'clock in the
evening, or later, according to the feafon of
the year, when the overfeer can find leifure,
E 4 they
72 On the Treatment and
they are called over by lift, to deliver in
their fecond bundles of grafs ; and the fame
punifhment, as at noon, is inflid:ed on the
delinquents. They then feparate, to pickup,
in their way to their huts, (if they have not
done it, as they generally do, while gathering
grafs) a little brufh wood, or dry cow-dung,
to prepare fome fimple mefs for fupper, and
to-morrow's breakfaft. This employs them
till near midnight, and then they go to lleep,
till the bell calls them in the morning.
This picking of grafs, as it is fitly called,
often in a fevere drought, when it is to be
found only in the receftes of the mountain,
thus thruft in by the by into the hour of
wearinefs and reft, is the greateft hardship
that a flave endures, and the moft frequent
caufe of his running away, or abfenting him-
felf from his work -, which not only fubjecfls
him to frequent puniftiment, but ad:ually
renders him unprofitable, worthlefs, and de-
ferving of puniftiment. He can neither re-
frefti, or indulge his wearied body. He is
fubjedted by it to injury. He is placed in
the jaws of trefpafs, and unavoidably made
obnoxious to oppreftion, and ftripes. And
yet
Conversion of African Slaves. 73
yet a few acres of land, in proportion to the
extent of the plantation, allotted for artifi-
cial grafs, and a few weakly llaves feparated
from the work, would take away the necef-
iity of providing for cattle in this harraffing
fcanty manner.
This grafs, except fuch part of it as is re-
ferved for the ftable horfes, procured by fo
much toil, and forced out of the Have by
fuch repeated puniiliment, under pretence
of feeding the cattle and mules, is fpread
abroad under their feet, on a fermenting
inclofed dung heap, called a pen. There
a very confiderable part is loft to every pur-
pofe of nourifhment, by being trampled un-
der the beafts feet i where mixing with dung
and urine, it ferments, corrupts, and with
its fuffocating fteams in that fultry climate,
inftcad of fupplying them with vigour, fills
them with difeafe ; as if Providence meant
to revenge the oppreffion of the Have, in
being forced to drudge thus for it, by in-
fpiring the mafter with a fpirit of abfurdity,
in his manner of uiing it.*
The
• Thie pen is an inclofure, perhaps of fixty by eighty feet,
|n which, from thirty to fifty cattle and mules are kept and
fc4.
74 On the Treatment and
The work here mentioned, is conlidered
as the field duty of flaves, that may be infilled
on without reproach to the manager, of un-
ufual feverity, and which the white and black
€)verfeers ftand over them to fee executed j
the tranfgreffion againll which, is quickly
followed with the fmart of the cart whip.
This inftrument, in the hands of a Ikilful
driver, cuts out flakes of ikin and flefli with
every ftroke ; and the wretch, in this mang-
fed. The decayed leaves, and ofFals of the fugar cane, are
from time to time thrown in for litter. Their provender is
fpread over it, and being mixed with urine, dung, and rain,
becomes a fermenting mafs, which is emptied once, and in
fome plantations, twice a year. The difeafe generally fatal to
mules, feems to be of the nature of a putrid infedious fever,
which, if it does not arrive from, is at leaft heightened by, this
abfurd manner of feeding. The cattle being often flaked out
in the fallow grounds, are not fo conftantly expofed to thefe
noxious fleams.
Though a planter will readily pay 30I. fterling for a good mule,
or a bull, and though chiefly from this fcanty abfurd method
of feeding them, he be obliged to renew his expence from year
to year; yet will he not allow a few acres for artificial grafs, nor
even a ftall, a manger, or a clean fpot, to fave their fmall pit-
tance of provender from filth, or to feed them apart from the
foul exhalations of a dung heap, in its moft unwholefome flate.
There have been inflances of pens burfling out into a fmoul-
dering flame, while the cattle were feeding on them,
* led
Conversion of African Slaves. 75
led condition, is turned out to work in dry
or wet weather, which laft, now and then,
brings on the cramp, and ends his fuiFerings
and flavery together.
In crop- time, which may be when reck-
oned altogether on a plantation, from five to
fix months ; the cane tops, by fupplying the
cattle with food, gives the flaves fome little
relaxation in picking grafs. But fome pre-
tendedly induftrious planters, men of much
buftle, and no method, will, efpecially in
moon-light, keep their people till ten o'clock
at night, carrying wowra, the decayed leaves
of the cane, to boil off the cane juice. A
coniiderable number of Haves is kept to at-
tend in turn the mill and boiling houfe
all night. They ileep over their work ; the
fugar is ill tempered, burnt in the boiler,
and improperly ilruck ; while the mill every
now-and-then grinds off an hand, or an arm,
of thofe drowfy worn dov/n creatures that
feed it. Still the procefs of making fugar
is carried on in many plantations, for months,
without any other interruption, than during
fome part of day light on Sundays. In fome
plantations
76 On the Treatment and
plantations it is the cuftom, during crop-
time, to keep the whole gang employed as
above, from morning to night, and alter-
nately one half throughout the night, tofup-
ply the mill with canes, and the boiling
houfe with wowra.
This labour is more or lefs moderated, in
proportion to the method and good fenfe of
the manager. In fome plantations the young
children and worn out Daves are fet apart
to pick grafs, and bring cane tops from the
iield for the cattle, and do no other work.
Sometimes the field gangs bring both their
bundles of grafs at once, being allowed for
that purpofe a little extra time, during the
meridian heat ; which faves them an unne-
cefTary repetition of wandering in the even-
ing three or four miles to fearch for it, and
enables the manager to employ the cool part
of the afternoon in the common labour of
the plantation. Sometimes they are dif-
miiled for grafs before the ufual hour -, or if
they be hoe-ploughing land, frequently none
is required from them. In fome plantations,
they are not punifhed for coming late into
the field, if they appear there about fun-rife.
In
Conversion of African Slaves. 77
In moil well-ordered plantations, they leave
off grinding and boiling before midnight,
and begin not again till about dawn : it
having been found, that the quantity of
fugar made in the night, is not in propor-
tion to the time; that it not only fuffers
in quality, but alfo lies open to pilferage ;
and that the mules, particularly the moil
tradlable, andeafily harneffed, are injured by
being worked indifcriminately, in the dark,
out of their turn; another valuable confe-
quence, this of their being confufedly
huddled together in that inclofed dung-heap,
the pen : for the danger of grinding off a
drowfy negroe's arm, or harraffmg him to
death, is a conlideration which without thefe
other circumflances, would hardly inter-
rupt the grand work of fugar-making.
Every plantation contains little fkirts, and
portions of broken land, unfit for the cul-
tivation of fugar. Thefe are ufually divided
among the flaves for the growth of provifions;
but where the mailer is inattentive, a few
of the principal negroes often feize on,
and appropriate to themfelves, the poffeilions
of the reft, and make the fimpler fort labour
for them; and many are fo lazy, that no-
thing
yS On the Treatment and
thing but the whip, and the prefence of the
overfeer, can make them work, even for them-
felves. There is fuch a ready market for all
the little articles which thefe fpots produce,
that the induHrious flaves of a few, though
but a few, plantations fituated near the
mountains, where the weather is feafonable
and favours the growth of vegetables, main-
tain themfelves in clothes and food, tole-
rably well, by the fale of their various fruits,
with little other immediate aid from their
mafter, befides a weekly allowance of her-
rings. But, in far the greater number of
plantations, the quantity of provifions, or
marketable vegetables, is uncertain and
trifling ; and neceffity and hunger will not
permit the wretches, to leave them in the
ground to ripen fufficiently. Hence many
difeafes and ruined conftitutions, from this
fcanty, rude, ill-prepared food, ufed among
them.
Formerly, before we became fuch accurate
planters, and before luxury had rapaci-
oufly converted every little nook of land
into fugar, the llaves had a field or two
of the fallow cane-land yearly divided
among them, for a crop of yams, peafe,
and
Conversion of African Slaves. 79
and potatoes 5 and a field of the bed cane-
land was annually put in yams, to be re-
ferved for their weekly allowance. When
Our late North American brethren were
pleafed to threaten our fugar iilands with
famine, this cuftom began again to be re-
newed, and with fuch fuccefs as might have
encouraged them, never, in time to come,
to have made themfelves as dependent on
North America as formerly for their dailj
bread.
Some mafters, now-and-then, give their
flaves Saturday afternoon, out of crop-time,
to till their fpots of ground; fometimes will
turn in the whole gang among them to weed
and put them in order, under the direction
of the overfeer. But, in general, t^e culture
of their private patches, and the picking of
grafs for their cattle , are their employments
on Sunday. In the low lands thefe pro-
viiion fpots are hardly ufeful fix months in
twelve, from the ufual drinefs of the wea-
ther. Added to the produce of their own
provifion lands, and the cafualty of a fallow
field, the flaves have a weekly allowance of
grain, varying in different plantations, from
one to three pounds, under the nominal mea-
fure
8o On the Treatment and
fure of from tv/o to eight pints. A few plan-
tations go near to five pounds; one or two
as far as lix. They have alfo from three to
eight herrings a week. In general, they are
far from being well or plentifully fed.*
They
* The praftice of turning all our lands to the growth of
the fugar cane, and neglefting the culture of provifions for
the flaves, and of artificial grafs for the cattle, has lately
arifen equally from the demands of extravagance in our abfent
planters, and of poverty in thofe on the fpot. Sugar, fugar, is
the inceflant cry of luxury, and of debt. To increafe the
quantity of this commodity, gardens of half an acre have
been grubbed up ; and that little patch, which he had ufed to
till for his own peafe, or cafTava, has the flave been made to
dig for the reception of his mailer's fugar cane. Nor has the
little fkirt of pafture, or half rood of artificial grafs, been
more fpared in this univerfal faoifice to would-be greatnefs ;
while the poor flave muft attempt to make up for this, and
every other want but his own, by exertions taken from the
hour of wearinefs and hunger. Hence the annual expence of
plantations, within lefs than thirty years, has been more
than doubled. Hence the fending of two or three extra
calks of fugar to market has been attended with an expence of
hundreds of pounds in provifions to flaves, in oats to horfes,
and in keeping up the flock of flaves and cattle, worn out,
before their time, by indifcreet extraordinary eiForts, and
a fcanty allowance. The peculiar fertility of St. Chriftopher's
has the moft baneful efFefts. It enables the greateft part of its
proprietors to live in England ; where, infenfible of the fuf-
ferings of their flaves, they think and dream of nothing but
ftigar, fugar ; to which, in confequence, every fpot of land
is condemned. Hence grafs is procured there with more dif-
ficulty.
Conversion of African Slaves. 8i
They have an yearly allowance of two or
three yards of coarfe woollen cloth, called
bamboo, to which fometimes is added for the
men a woollen cap, for the women a hand-
kerchief, and perhaps a few yards of Ofna-
burghs. At Chriftmas three holidays are
pretended to be given them; but generally
Sunday is foifled in for one, and now-
and-then half of Chriftmas-day mufl be
employed by them in digging yams for their
allowance, and in receiving it afterwards,
with a pound or two of falt-fifh, or a fcrap
of coarfe Irifh beef. In Jamaica they have
alfo two holidays at Eafler, and two at
Whitfuntide.
Their huts are framed of ifland timber,
cut by each man for himfelf in the moun-
tains, and carried down by him aod his wife
on Sundays. Sometimes the owner will
fupply a board or two to make a door or
window fhutter, but, in general, fuch mate-
rials are ftolen ; nails and hinges are either
ftolen or bought from thofe who have flolen
them. This often happens on a plantatioa
ficulty, and the flaves are more fcantily fed, than in the other
iflands ; and the managers are obliged to keep them up to
their utmolt poflible exertion to prefcrve their employment.
F where
82 On the Treatment and
where perhaps a thoufand pounds ilerllng
have been expended on a ftable for a fet of
Englifh horfes. Indeed Englifh horfes arc
the leaft neceffary, yet befl attended, bell
ferved, befh lodged, and moll expenlively
kept, animals poffelTed by a fugar planter.
Negroes bred to mechanic employments,
to fugar boiling, and the like, and fome
domellic Haves, fare much better than thofe
v^^ho work in the field. They have opportu-
nities of retaliating on their mailer for his
penurious treatment of them, by purloining
from him; and they often fupply themfelves
with necelTaries by little ufeful jobs in their
feveral trades. Slaves in the neighbourhood
of the towns drive alfo a conliderable trade
with the inhabitants for grafs and cane tops
for feeding their horfes.
A furgeon is generally employed by the
year to attend the lick Haves. His allowance
per head varies from fourteen pence to three
(hillings; in a few inllances it rifes to three
fhillings and fix pence llerling, befides being
paid for amputations. Some frugal planters
trull to their own Ikill, and James's powder,
and Ward's pill; and, then, for the moll part,
a furgeon is only called in to pronounce them
pall
Conversion of African Slaves. 83
paft recovery. The food of the lick is often
mufty, indigeftible horfe beans, fometimes
maize, flour, or rice; fometimes, as a dainty,
brown bifcuit. On fome plantations, the
manager is allowed to get, now-and-then,
a fowl, or a kid to make foup for them.
Sometimes the owner fends the manager a
caik of wine, a few glaffes of which are
fuppofed to be for the ufe of the lick. Where
the manager is a married man, the lick
often have a mefs from his table, and caudle,
tea, and other comfortable flops,- and his
wife fuperintenda the conducfl of the nurfe,
and fees that the pregnant and lying-in
women be properly taken care of. But the
cuftom of employing married men on plan-
tations is wearing fait out. Though married
managers alone can take proper care of the
lick, though they Hay more conllantly at
home, and have numberlefs other advanta-
ges over lingle men, in point of characfter,
faithfulnefs, and application; yet planters
have determined it to be better to employ
perhaps a difTipated, carelefs, unfeeling young
man, or a grovelling, lafcivious, old batche-
lor (each with his half fcore of black or
mulattoe pilfering harlots, who, at their
F 2 will,
84 On the Treatment and
will, fele6t for him, from among the ilaves,
the objeds of his favour or hatred) rather
than allow a married woman to be entertained
on the plantation.*
In
• The pretence of this encouragement given to profligacy,
is, that a family requires more attendants, and confumes more
fugar than a fingle man ; but the contrary is the faft in a
very high degree ; and there is not in the fingle man the
attention, and perfevering care of a fenfible woman, (fuch, in
an highly ufeful degree, is almoft every manager's wife whom I
know) in things within her province, which, even, were the
aflertion true, would more than balance the account.
I mean not to comprehend every fingle man in the full ex-
tent of this cenfure. Some fhew the wretches under them
every mark of attention that their own folitary ftate leaves in
their power. But all mail pafs through the hands of fome in-
confiderate boy overfeer, or fome unfeeling black or mu-
lattoe concubine. And where the fingle man is a gadding,
goflipping reveller, (a charafter fometimes to be met with) in-
conceivable are the miferies to which the flaves are fubjefted.
The neceffaries, where any are allotted for the fick, (and heaven
knows, on the beft plantations, they are trivial enough!)
are devoured as a morfel, by that legion of harlots and their
children, with which the plantation abounds. Often, while
the manager is feafting abroad, carelefs and ignorant of what
has happened, fome haplefs wretch among the ilaves is taken ill,
and unnoticed, unpitied, dies, without even the poor com-
fort of a furgeon, in his laft moments, to fay, ** It is now too
*' late." When the unripe female Have has become the new
objeft of the manager's attachment, ihe becomes an objeft of
envy to the more experienced dames that have gone before her,
and muft think herfelf lucky, if fhe pays not with her life the
forfeit
Conversion of African Slaves. S^
In the year 1774, or before the American
war, the feveral articles that a flave had an-
nually returned to him out of his labour,
were, in too many plantations, within the
following proportion. In others, his allow-
ance of food conliderably exceeded what is
here mentioned :
£ s d
Annual allowance of rice, flour,
maize, beans, or other grain.
(01^ o
Ditto of herrings, and his iifh, or 7 ^
fcrap of fait beef, at Chriftmas, J
Ditto clothing, ----- 036
Surgeon, quack medicines, and ex- 1
traordinary neceffaries when fick
;(»
Whole annual allowance -160
The ordinary puniihments of flaves, for
the common crimes of negledl, abfence from
work, eating the fugar cane, theft, are cart
whipping, beating with a flick, fometimes
to the breaking of bones, the chain, an
iron crook about the neck, a large iron pud-
forfeit of her youthful attraftions. In fhort, in the cafe fup-
pofcd, fhamelefs profligacy ufurps the place of decency,
fympathy, morality, and religion ; and headlong unthinking
laft alone produces all the wafting efFefts of diflionefty, cruelty,
and opprcflion,.
F 3 ding
86 On the Treatment and
ding or ring about the ancle, and confinement
in the dungeon. There have been inftances
of flitting of ears, breaking of limbs, fo as to
make amputation neceflary, beating out of
eyes, and caftration ; but they feldom happen,
efpecially of late years, and though they
bring no lafting difgrace on the perpetrator,
have, for fome time pafl, been generally
mentioned with indignation. It is yet true,
that the unfeeling application of the ordinary
punifliments ruins the conflitution, and
ihortens the life of many a poor wretch.*
To avoid any mifconflrudion, I muft here
obferve, that the labour, the diet, the puniih-
ments, in fhort, the general treatment of
flaves, depend on the charadier of the owner
* In a certain colony, no lefs than two chief judges, within
thefe thirty years, have been celebrated for cutting off or
mafhing (fo as to make amputation neceffary) the limbs of
their flaves. In one cafe a furgeon was called in to operate ;
but he anfwered, he was not obliged to be the infirumcnt of
another man's cruelty. His honour had it then performed by
a cooper's adze, and the wretch was left to bleed to death,
without attention, or dreffing. When he became convulfed,
in the agonies of death, the furgeon was again haftily fent for,
and came in time to pronounce him dead. People flared at the
recital, but made no enquiry for blood. In the other cafe the
limb was maftied with a fledge hammer, and then it was am-
putated by a furgeon, and the maimed wretch lived fome
^ears,
or
GONVERSION OF AFRICAN SlAVES. 8/
or manager; and that in fome particular plan-
tations (the grievance of picking grafs, and
the circumftance of their being fo long as
lixteen hours out of the twenty-four under
the la(h of the whip, excepted) they enjoy
as much eafe and indulgence as are com-
patible with their prefent ftate of ignorance
and dependence, and the accurate methodi-
cal cultivation of a fugar plantation. But
this cafe and this indulgence, though due
from all maflers to all flaves, are not deemed
matter of right, but of kindnefs or favour;
and too many are fet over them, who want
both humanity and difcretion to fee either
the obligation or advantage of fuch treat-
ment; too many who are too lazy to confult
any principle but prefent caprice in their con-
dud: towards them. I have heard managers
boafl: of not having ordered twelve flripes in
twelve months among 120 flaves. There are
alfo managers v/ho may boaft, and there have
been fome who have boafted, of having given,
every now-and-then, what they call a cool
hundred for the llighteft offences. Yet,
were this lafl even a folitary character, in a
community, he ought to be an object of
F 4 police.
88 On the Treatment and
police, and be compelled to revere the claims
of human nature.
We Cannot pafs over in filence the ufual
treatment of pregnant women and nurfes.
In almoil every plantation, they are fond of
placing every negroe vi^ho can wield an hoe
in the field gang; fo fond, that hardly any
remonftrance from the furgeon can, in many
cafes, fave a poor difeafed wretch from the
labour^ though, if method prevailed, work
may be found on the plantation equally ne-
cefiary and ^proportioned to every various
degree of ability^ and though one or two
days attempts in the field be fure to lay them
up in the hofpital for weeks.
At this work are pregnant women often
kept during the laft months of their preg-
nancy, and hence fufFer many an abortion;
which fome managers are unfeeling enough
to exprefs their joy at, becaufe the woman,
on recovery, having no child to care for,
will have no pretence for indulgence.
If, after all, fhe carries her burden the
full time, ilie muft be delivered in a dark,
damp, fmoky hut, perhaps without a rag
in which to wrap her child, except the
manager
Conversion of African Slaves. S9
manager has a wife to fympathize with her
wants. Hence the frequent lofs of negroe
children by cramp and convuliions within
the month. A lying-in woman is allowed
three, in fome plantations four weeks for
recovery. She then takes the field with her
child, and hoe or bill. The infant is placed
in the furrow, near her, generally expofed
naked, or almofl naked, to the fun and rain,
on a kid fkin, or fuch rags as fhe can procure.
Some very few people give nurfes an extra
allowance. In general, no other attention is
paid to their condition, except perhaps to
excufe them from the picking of grafs.
Though Haves be now raifed to a price that
few old fettled plantations can afford to give,
yet this is all the care taken in moft of them
to raife a young generation ^ while Creoles or
native Weft Indian negroes are univerfally ac-
knowledged to be more hardy, diligent, and
trufty than Africans. Managers, to whofe
care plantations are left, hold their places,
as we have obferved, by fo precarious a tenure,
that they too often confine .their views to the
making of the greateft prefent exertion that
is pofTible, (which, indeed, their em-
ployers prefs them to do) without looking
forward
90 On the Treatment and
forward to what may happen fifteen years
hence.*
SEC T,
• Under the impreinon of this negligence, let me propofc
the remedy. Let two rooms be added to the hofpital , one for
the reception of lying-in women, the other for the fucking
children, while their mothers are at work. The whole fhould
be placed fo as to be convenient for the infpedion of the
manager's wife, whom we efteem to be as neceffary a perfon
on a plantation as the manager himfelf ; and who, on moft
plantations, may have fufficient employment in taking care
of the keys in her hulband's abfence on bufinefs, or at courts,
(many overfeers npt being truft-worthy) to fee the fickly negroes
fed, the infants properly taken care of, and the nurfe do her
duty in the hofpital. For thefe and the like offices, in St. Croix,
it is ufual to give her a falary, dillinft from her hufband.
Let two elderly handy women be chofen to attend the children,
keep them clean, and feed them with fpoon-meat. For the firft
iix months, nurfes Ihould be kept at moderate labour, near the
hofpital, to be at hand to fuckie their children, from time to
time. After that period, they may go through the ordinary
work of the plantation, except the picking of grafs. They
ihould have an, extraordinary allowance of food both in quan-
tity ar(d quality. Every healthy child, prefented to the
mailer weaned, mould intitle the mother to a complete fuit of
clothesi'^Every woman, that has three children at work in the
field, fhould be excufed all field work.
We have feveral plantations, where by care, and mild
treatment, and a judicious, or cafually juft proportion between
the fexes at firft, the flaves increafe from the births; and this
might be the cafe in all, if the di£lates of prudence and
humanity were obeyed. To give an inftance in point : there
are two plantations, bordering on each other, of nearly the
fame extent. About twenty years ago they were nearly equally
ftocked
Conversion of African Slaves. 91
SECT. VII.
Mafter and Slave in particular Inftances.
It has been obferved, that there is no law
in the colonies to reftrain the ill-behaviour
or cruelty of a mailer to his Have. It is not
meant to be infmuated from this, that the
want, of laws to fecure good treatment to
them expofeth them to all the ill ufagc,
that may be fuppofed naturally to arife from
fuch negled. The humanity of many makers
more than fupplies the want of laws in every
other refped, but that of improvement j
the attachment of others has in them a like
efFed:. In fome cafes, good fenfe, a regard
for their reputation, and a well informed
ftockcd with flavcs : on the one the allowance has been more
plentiful, and the managers have been more confiderate than
on the other. Here the flaves are ftrong, hearty, and increafed
from the births. The other manager boafts of his pinching
and faving : and that plantation requires an almoft annual
fupply of eight or ten negroes to keep up the ftock. And,
till lately, that he, through lazinefs, and abfolute negled
of his employers intereft, as he underftood it, has relaxed in
his difcipline, the flaves were a ftarving heartlefs crew.
Indeed, at this time, none were left but fuch whofe natural
flrength of conftitution Hood proof againft exccfs of labour,
fcverity of punifnment, and thelaft tolerable degree of famine.
convic-
92 On the Treatment and
conviction of their intereft, induce men to
treat their Haves with difcretion and hu-
manity. The Haves of many a planter poilefs
advantages beyond v^hat the labourer even
in Britain enjoys. It is true the flave cannot
hope, as the other may, to raife himfelf, or
his children above their prefent condition;
or by his induftry to put himfelf or them on
a footing v^ith his mafter; a fpur to exertion
and emulation that mull: ever diflinguifh and
ennoble freedom: yet his work, all but
that vile picking of grafs, which in St. Chrif-
topher's is an intolerable burden, is in gene-
ral eafier ; his life palTes more happily on,
and he entertains no anxious thoughts about
his expences when fick, or his maintenance
when old. Slaves chiefly fufFer, where they
are the property of an ignorant, low-minded,
narrow-hearted wretch, or of one indigent
and involved, or of a man who makes a
figure beyond his income in England, or
when they are fubmitted to fome raw lad,
or untaught unfeeling manager or overfeer.
And men in fuch circumftances, and of fuch
difpofitions, are to be found in too great a
proportion in every community, to have
abandoned to their ignorance, their cruelty,
preju-
Conversion OF African Slaves. 93
prejudice, parfimony, or felfifhnefs, fo many
thoufands of their fellow-creatures as are
really fubjedted to them in our colonies.
I have now in contemplation before me,
a planter, who conceives himfelf to be a
confcientious man. This man fells every year
fugar and rum to the amount of 1 0,000 1. or
15,0001. fterling, belides duties and freight;
the produce of his flaves labour, in number
above 500. Though his lands have no par-
ticular advantages of provilion grounds above
his neighbours, and though he never was
remarkable for allowing them any extraor-
dinary time to work fuch ground, if it had
been allotted to them, nay, is notorious for
keeping them drawling on at work under the
eye of his drivers and overfeers, from ear-
lieft dawn to midnight, from month to
month, without refpite or relaxation; yet
it is only of late years, that he has afforded
them any thing above fix herrings a week,
and thofe not very regularly fupplied. His
manager, indeed, ufed to ileal, now-and-
then, from his horfes, a bulLel or two of
beans to divide among the moft emaciated
ilaves; but it was not the cuflom of the
plantation to give them any allowance of
food.
94 On the Treatment anb
food. Some years ago, his attornies took the
opportunity of his making a voyage to
England, to give his flaves an allowance of
grain, v^hich has lince been continued, and
has gradually been raifed from a fcanty pound
per week to nearly the common allowance of
fix nominal pints, that may weigh about
two pounds and an half. Indeed, fuch was
this man's original prejudice againft feeding
his negroes, and fo unable were they, with-
out feeding, to exift in a ftate capable of
labour, that greatly to the lefTening of his
income, it was his cuftom to keep on making
fugar, almoft throughout the whole year^
in a lifelefs, inaftive manner, in order that
his Haves might have fome fubfiftence from
the cane juice. Before the period of which
we fpeak, flaves had much more provilion
ground allotted to them, and, being lefs
hurried by the overfeers, were better able to
cultivate. When luxury came in, like a
torrent, among the planters, and feized with
violence on the flaves little fpots, and de-
manded the whole of their time, not leaving
even to fleep its due, the neceffity of pro-
viding other food for them from foreign
parts was but flowly perceived, and thoufands
had
Conversion OF African Si^AVEs. 95
had periOied before the lofs was traced to its
proper caufe; and this man, of whom ive
write, was one of the lafl who was con-
vinced that his flaves mufl be fed, if work
was to be expected from them. Now can it
be affirmed, that fuch a perfon v/ould not
have reaped an advantage from a law that
{hould have direded him how to feed his
llaves, or that Haves belonging to fuch a man
would not have been happier in themfelves,
more profitable to their owner, and better
and more ufeful members of the ftate, if
they could have claimed the benefit of a
law, I will not fay to vindicate for them the
common rights of humanity, but to fecure
to them the full exertion of their animal pow-
ers. And may we not add, that men fo ufeful
to fociety in their mifmanaged Hate, and
capable of being rendered infinitely more
profitable, have demands on fociety for much
better entertainment than a bit of falted
herring, or a little raw cane juice?
And yet, had fuch planters as we have
been fpeaking of the fenfe to difcern it,
wifdom would teach them a more liberal
plan of policy, and make the didates
of humanity, or even of prudence alone,
iland in ftead of a thoufand laws. A gen-
tleman.
96 On the Treatment and-
tleman, who lately died here, gave his Haves
nearly double the proportion of food that is
given by many, who value themfelves on
feeding them very high; and he frequently
faid, that could he afford it, he would in-
creafe their allowance ilill further. He par-
celled out to them a larger proportion of his
ufeful ground than moll of his neighbours,
for the cultivation of their roots and vege-
tables, and it lay more convenient for tillage.
His flaves had all fome little property, a hog,
a goat, a trifle of money made by the fale of
the produce of their little gardens, or of their
weekly allowance of food ; and they were
all able to keep themfelves decently clothed.
He enlarged the gang to fuch a number, as
not to be under the neceffity of working them
beyond their ftrcngth, or at unfeafonable
hours. In wet weather, he contrived to em-
ploy them near the works for the benefit of
fhelter; and they all had comfortable huts
to receive them after the labour of the day.
He allowed them to exchange their provi-
lions for money, or any other fpecies of food
more agreeable to them, and it was to en-
able them to indulge their tafte for variety,
that he wilhed to increafe an allowaace, other-
wife
Conversion of African Slaves. 97
v/ife fufficient for them. He feemed to have
hit the medium between governing too much
and too little : his people w^ere always ready
at command; but they had the full power of
themfelves and their time, when the plan-
tation work did not employ them.
When he left off the purchaiing of new
ilaves, he poiTeiTed about one hundred and
fixty. In four years they were increafed
from the births to one hundred and eighty.
In eight years he had loft by old age and
chronic complaints about teji, and a few more
by the natural fmall-pox, who, when the
others were inoculated, were palled over, on
the fuppolition of their having formerly had
the difeafe. Some few infants were, I believe,
alfo lofl: within the month 5 and the propor-
tion of breeding women was fmall. The
above is not the common proportion of deaths
in any place. It is not an unufual thing on
the fame iiland to lofe in one year out of fuch
a number, ten^ twelve, nay, as far as twenty,
by fevers, fluxes, dropfies, the effe6l of too
much work, and too little food and care.
In fome plantations of the like extent, it is
neceffary to keep up the gang by an almofl
annual addition of eight or ten new liaves.
G His
98 On the Treatment and
His whole expence for phyfic, during the
three lafl years of this period, was within
half of the annual allowance ufually paid for
fuch a number. Now, if we take into ac-
count the labour lofl by the ficknefs of thofe
numbers that mud be taken ill, where many
die, the expence of recruits, and the puny,
weakly, inefficient ftate of the whole, where
fo much is fuffered from inattention, the
difference in point of intereft between dif-
creet and hard ufage is great in favour of
humanity.
Farther, in plantations, where flaves are ill
fed, hard worked, and feverely punifhed, it is
a circumftance common for a tenth, and even
as far as a fourth part of the working flaves,
to go off and fkulk in the mountains, fome
for months together. The culture of the
plantation is interrupted by the lofs of their
labour, while they, by lying out in the woods,
and learning there to eat dirt or clay, often
con trad: diforders, of which they never re-
cover. This gentleman, in the lafl eight
years of his life, had only one flave who abfented
himfelf two days, on having had fome words
with the pverfeer, for having debauched one
of his wives. Thefe particulars taken toge-
ther.
Conversion OF African Slaves. 99
ther, are not defplcable advantages of fellow-
feeling and humanity; and if the like care
was extended to the improvement of their
minds, they, who were fo well cared for in
what refpecfts the body, might in time be
brought to pay fqme attention to what con-
cerns the foul.
It is pleafant to record fuch an inftance,
and, did I not fear to awaken detraction, I
would, in order to humble European pride,
celebrate him by name, as a Creole of at leaft
four defcents, the friend of the author, and
a man of more confiderable humanity in
private, and more comprehenlive generolity
in public life, than (except in one or two
cafes more) has ever come within my notice.
But this gentleman had chiefly in view the
cafe and happinefs of his own flaves: per-
haps an example, where profit is the objed:,
may be more convincing. A young man has
the care of a confiderable plantation in the
neighbourhood: his character depends on its
thriving condition, and the profitable^ re-
turns made to the abfent owner. The flaves,
when he took charge of them, were a puny
weakly gang, and fewer in number than in
other plantations of the fame extent. The
G 2 planta-
lOo On the Treatment and
plantation is particularly laborious, yet the
work is more forward, and better finiihed, the
Haves more healthy, the deaths fewer, the
crops greater, the rum in an higher propor-
tion, and the fugar better and higher priced,
than in the plantations around it.
This is the fecret of his management. He
is a ilave to method. If once he hath taken
public notice of a trefpafs againft the efta-
blifhed difcipline, he never pardons, except
when, in a particular cafe, he obliges the
culprit to find fome reputable feliow-flave,
to become fecurity with him for his good be-
haviour. He attends carefully to his own
duty, and therefore few under him dare to be
negligent j fo that he feldom has occaiion to
corred:. The trial of all trefpalles, and dif-
penfation of punifliments, are held in pre-
fence of the gang. The fentence is accom-
panied with a public explanation of the fault,
and an exhortation to avoid it; and often the
contempt and reproach of the culprit's fellows
make the fevereft part of the corre<5tion. If
the whole gang has behaved remarkably well,
throughout the week, he diftributes fome
little reward among them, or, if the work
permits, gives them Saturday afternoon to
them-
Conversion of African Slaves, ioi
themfelves. Ifaflave has been remarkably
diligent, he gets fome money, a bit of beef,
or other trifle on Sunday. Sometimes he
^fFedis to difcover remarkable diligence in a
lazy Dave, and rewards it as if real, and
thus encourages him to exert himfelf, and
excites thofe vt^ho defpifed him, ftill more
to out-do him. If tvv^o or three behave re-
markably ill, the ufual indulgence or re-
ward is with-held from the gang. This
makes them become guardians of each other's
conduct, and fear the fcorn and refentment
of their companions, more than their mailer's
power. He embraces every occaiion to
harangue them on their duty, and on the
advantage of obedience, and good behavioiiri
and this cuftom has infenfibly introduced
among them the feeds of fentiment, and
moral diftindlion. Their allowance of food
is double to that of plantations where they
pretend to give the fame number of pints of
grain. When they hole, or hand plough,
the land, they have an extraordinary allow-
ance of food, and are indulged with rum
and water to drink. The fick, and their
nurfe, are put under his wife's direction, and
any remarkably puny negro is employed
about the houfe and kitchen,
G 3 CHAP.
( 102 )
CHAP. II.
The Advancement of Slaves v^ould aug-
ment their Social Importance.
IN the preceding chapter, we have con-
trafted flavery, as it has been varioully
enforced among different nations, over the
unfortunate, v\^ith thofe ranks, into which
fociety naturally, and profitably, feparates
its members. In this laft ftate, we obferve
a rule originating in our conflitution, by our
Creator's will, that leads on each individual
from his own fecurity and happinefs, to
form the happinefs and fecurity of the com-
munity to which he belongs. In the other,
the capricious will of individuals is the
only law of their dependents, and, without
once confulting their welfare, concludes all
their feelings, and all their dearefl interefts.
And all mafters, in proportion as they them-
felves
Conversion of African Slaves. 103
felves are free, are, for their mutual profit,
confpired together to rivet, and extend the
chains of flavery, as far as their power ex-
tends.
This unnatural ftate of mankind has,
more or lefs, departed from the dictates of
humanity, in proportion as the difpofition
of mafters, and the views of legifJators, have
overlooked or confidered the general rights
of mankind. The cuftoms and manners of
different nations have, in fome inflances,
foftened the lot ofmiferable flaves ^ in others
have encouraged the head-long cruelty of
mafters. But in the Britifli plantations, the
infolence arifing from the keen fenfe of our
own freedom, (ai)d yet why fliould not a
keener fy mpathy with fuffering humanity
operate on our feelings) and the incefTant
demands of luxury, and extravagance, that
make themfelves to be heard, and obeyed
from the capital a-crofs the vafl atlantic, have
there funk human nature down to the lowefl
depth of wretchednefs. Hunger, miftrufl,
opprefhon, ignorance, produce in the flaves
worthleflhefs, and crimes ; and the avarice
and cruelty, that contrived the faults, exa<5b
punifhment for them with as much ef-
G 4 frontervj
104 ^N '^^^ Treatment and
frontery, as if they who made them flave$»
and thereby deprived them of every virtu-
ous feeling, and every fpur to emulation,
were not anfwerable in their own perfons
for the bafe efFeds. Do we wijGfi to form
adequate notions of their mifery ? Let us
imagine (and would heaven it were only
imagination !) mafters and overfeers, with up-
lifted whips, clanking chains, and preffing
hunger, forcing their forlorn flaves to com-
mit every horrid crime that virtue ihrinks
at, and with the fame weapons puniihing the
perpetration, not to the extremity indeed that
nature can bear, but till the whole man finks
under them. But to make the reprefenta-
tion complete, we mufl alfo draw humanity,
bleeding over the horrid fcene, and longing,
eagerly longing, to be able to vindicate her
own rights. Still, whatever fhe may urge,
it will have little weight, if avarice or lux-
ury oppofe her claim. We are exceeding-
ly ready, it is the turn of the age, to ex-
prefs ourfelves forrowfully, when any ad; of
opprefTion, or unjufl fuffering, is related
before us ; the generous fentiment flows
off our tongues, charity feems to
dictate
Conversion of African Slaves. 105
didtate every fympathizing phrafe, and vanity
comes cheerfully forward to make her offer-
ing. But whom fliall we find willing to
facriiice his amufement or his pleafure, to
obey the call of humanity? Who to relieve
the fufferings of the wretched Have, will
boldly encounter the oppreifor's rage, or offer
up felfifli interefl at the altar of mercy ?
"W hy, then, hath the ad:ive zeal of the be-
nevolent Mr. Granville Sharp, and a few
others, in the bufinefs that we now agitate,
hitherto made the unfeeling indifference of
our age, and nation, but the more confpicu-
ous ?
We mufl not therefore flop at gaining
over humanity to our fide, but go on to
fhew, that fociety is deeply interefted in
advancing the condition of flaves, and that it
would even be for the benefit of their im-
mediate maflers, that they fhould be fubjedl
only to the laws. As the cravings of lux-
ury and extravagance have of late begun to
make inroads, even on the flave's partial
refpite from toil on the fabbath; we v/ill, in
the mean time fhew, till this much- to-
be defired freedom can be brought gradually
aboutj
io6 On the Treatment and
about, how much the mafter fins, not only"
againft heaven, but his own immediate inte-
reft, when he forces his Have to toil for him
on this facredday. And fo low is their fliate,
that we fhall not intirely lofc the purpofe of
this undertaking, if we vindicate for them
only their legal claim to this indulgence. To
make the reader the better acquainted with
the fubjedt of our inquiry, we will premife
a fliort account of the prefent importance of
the flaves in our fugar colonies. And we
hope to leave felfiflmefs, and private intereft,
without excufe, for continuing the heavy
yoke which now opprefTes them.
SECT. I.
Their prefent importance to Society as flaves.
In treating of this fubjed:, the author
finds a difhculty in fupprefling his feelings.
How fhall a man, who is firmly convinced
that religion, and law, mufl go hand in
hand, and extend their influence over every
individual, in order to fecure the full pur-
pofe?
Conversion of African Slaves. 107
pofes of fociety, pafs over, without cenfure,
a conduct both in governors and people^
which, refpe<Sing our colonies, is wholly re-
gardiefs of thefe important points ; even a-
mong thofe, who have always been acknow-
ledged as citizens ? All civilized ftates,
hitherto, have had an eftablifhed religion.
An eflablifhed religion has a ftrong influ-
ence on every mode that is tolerated, though
not eftablifhed. The church of England,
particularly, is confidered by all fober peo-
ple, as the great flay of the conflitution ;
and it is a fad;, that the enemies of the one
always aim their attacks at the other. But
in the places of which I write, with hard-
ly one exception, neither is law animated by
religion, nor is religion fupported by law.
Even common opinion has no check to
oppofe to the moil fcandalous crimes, nor
does it operate to reftrain the moft indecent
enormities.*
This
* In this pi»5lure, I mean not a general charge of depravity,
but of careleffnefs and indolence, that fix neither puniihment
"nor difgrace on the greateft irregularities. When it is con-
fidered, that neither religion nor common opinion have any
check in thefe iflands on perfonal behaviour, it is not fo
furprizing
io8 On the Treatment and
This obfervation of the negle<£l of all ap-
pearance of religion in the colonies is truly
difcouraging, and leads diredily to this
jiifl: and mournful conclufion concerning
Haves: *' That the government which pays
** no attention to the moral and religious
** conduct of its liege fubjedts, can be
** expe(5ted to do but little for the im-
" provement of Haves." In thefe we be-
hold a wretched race of mortals, w^ho are
conlidered as mere machines or inftru-
furprizing that many heinous crimes fhould Ihew themfelves,
as that they fhould continue to be confined to the fmaller
number in a country, where law attends to nothing but the
fecurity of a man's property.
It is indeed true of the inhabitants, that though fome indivi-
duals may, and a£lually do, commit the mofl; flagrant offences,
not without puniihment only, but even without bluHiing, yet
they are in general much better than their rulers. Within thefe
five years, the grand jury of a certain colony ftrove in vain to
bring the complicated crime of murder and inceft to a trial. The
whole bench of juftices, and king's council, without even fup-
pofmg the man innocent, united to oppofe the attempt, and
proteft the culprit, and were able to do it effeftually.
Barbadoes is almoll the only colony, where a,ny tolerable
degree of decency is preferved, refpefting an eftablifhed reli-
gion ; and though there be many and grievous defefts in its
conflitution and government, yet this circumftance gives it
confiderable advantages in point of decency ar^d civilization
above the others, efpecially the new iflands,
jjients
Conversion of African Slaves. 109
mcnts of our profit, of our luxury,
of our caprice, without feelings, without
rights, without profped:s : — Defpifed beings,
who have found no friend, helper, or pro-
te6lor ; who have not influence with a legi-
ilature, that from year to year is employed
in making ad:s in favour of horned cattle,
and afcertaining the rights of partridges and
dogs, to get a flatute paiTed, (I will not fay
for their benefit as reafonable creatures, but)
for their feelings and utility as mere ani-
mals, or infcruments of labour j v/ho
cannot procure an edi«fl: to prevent the leafl
particle of the unalienable rights of human
nature from being wrefled out of their
polfeffion, by the ignorance, prejudice, cru-
elty, revenge, and felfifhnefs of untaught,
inconfiderate men, their mafiers and their
overfeers. And this neglect they meet
with from a legiilature, whofe chief conjfti-
tutional purpofe of aflembling, is to dif-
pofe of their conftituents money, and which,
from a very natural inquiry, might have
known, that while the ilaves in our fugar
colonies, exceeded not the fortieth part of
the inhabitants of the empire, at the break-
ing out of the late war, they contributed,
in
no On the Treatment and
in that negleded ilate, perhaps nearly a fixth
part of its then revenue ; a proportion
which might be confiderably increafed, if
the condition of the miferable wretches them-
felves were a little improved.
As this is a bold allertion, it will be ne-
ceflary to ihew, on what ^^^/'^ I proceed, in
the difcuffion of a fubjed;, in which exadlnefs
cannot be expeded. I had made my calcu-
lations before America was declared inde-
pendent, Ireland made a feparate flate, and
Tobago, with all its improvements, given
up to France ; and it is a fubje6t of too
much chagrin, to adapt them now to our
new condition.
The fugar colonies produce fugar, rum,
coffee, cocoa, cotton, ginger, pimento, indigo.
The inhabitants of England and 1
Wales are eftimated at j" 7o >
Scotland 1,500,000
Ireland 2,500,000
11,500,000
British Isles, &c.
North America Freemen 2,600,000
= — .- — — -Slaves 400,000—3,000,000
Sugar Colonies Freemen 82,000
, -.- . I Slaves 418,000— 500,000
Colonies 3,500,000
Empire 15,000,000
tobacco.
Conversion OF African Slaves, hi
tobacco, aloes, mahogany, fweetmeats. Sec,
Thefe valued all as caiks of raw fugar, each
of 1 200 lb. at the King's beam, London,
may be eilimated in moderately produdlive
years, as below. To complete the view,
the inhabitants are added.
Iflands Free Inhabitants
Slaves
Staple redu-
ced to calks
of Sugar
Barbadoes
20,000
80,000
24,000
Tobago
1,000
8,000
6,000
Grenada and Grenadillas
7,000
30,000
36,000
St. Vincent's
4,000
15,000
10,000
Dominica
4,000
15,000
10,000
Antigua
6,000
36,000
20,000
Montferrat
2,000
9,000
6,000
Nevis
2,000
10,000
8,000
St. Chriftopher
3,000
27,000
20,000
Anquilla, Tortola, and its 1
Dependencies 3
3,000
14,000
10,000
Jamaica & its Dependencies
30,000
174,000
too,ooo
Total
82,000
~4i 8,000
250,000
The fugar baker in Britain pays for fugar,
the chief article, from ^^24 to ^^30 per cafk.
Hence the value of the ftaple is feldom below
jr6,ooo,ooo per annum. The Haves efti-
mated at jT^o each will exceed the fum of
>r20,ooo,coo. The lands, buildings, and
other
JI2 On the Treatment and
other flock, may be fet down at twice this
fum, or ^40,000,000. We have then the
Weft-Indian flock, exceeding ^60,000,000
and giving a yearly produce of ^6,000,000
About _£i, 000, 000 of this lafl comes into
the exchequer, for duties on fugar, rum, &c.
And there cannot be lefs than ^8qo,ooo
raifed on the trade of the"illands, and on the
planters, who refide, and fpend their fortunes
in England. The freight, agency, light-
houfe money, ftorage, infurance, and other
incidental charges, are a full million more of
gain to Britain. And as the whole is put in
motion, and draws its worth from the labour
of ilaves, it clearly proves their prefent im-
portance> and their claim to national at-
tention.
Indeed, the whole balance of their annual
produce may be fuppofed as remaining with
Britain. For there is not referved in the
colonies, a part fufEcient to make the ne-
cefTary improvements, in many cafes, not
even to keep up the flock. And even what
is fpent in the iflands, is laid out in the
purchafe of Britifh or American com-
modities 5 but much the largefl fhare is kept
in
Conversion OF African Slaves. 113
in Britain, to be fpent, or to pay the interell
of five or fix millions of money due there.
In fhort, they may be confidered as manu-
fafturies eflabliihed in convenient diflant
places, that draw all their utenfils from, and
fend all their produce to, the mother coun-
try.
I have fuppofed the medium produce to be
^6,000,000, as the prime coft in Britain;
but after paffing through the hands of the
manufacturer, it mufl cofb the confumer full
^8,000,000.
SECT. II.
Their prefent importance to Society would
be increafed by Freedom.
From this view of the importance of our
flaves, in their prefent ftate, (for they alone
fi:amp a value on Weft- Indian property) it will
clearly follow, that to improve and advance
their condition in focial, to encourage and
inflfud: them in moral life, would be as po-
litically profitable, as it is religious and
humane. Were their condition advanced,
they would become more worthy, more va-
H luable
114 On the Treatment and
luable fubjedis. They would produce much
more by their labour, and agreeably to that
great purpofe of modern police, iinanceering,
by the confumption of more manufad:ures,
they would increafe the public revenue.*
Inftead of confining their demands, as at
prefent, to a few coarfe woollens and Of-
naburgs, to a little grain, a few herrings,
and falt-fifh, they would open a new traffic
in every branch of trade, and while they
improved our commerce, they would add
to the ftrength and fecurity of the colonies.
The few, who by accident, or indulgence, have
been advanced in focial life, make even now
a conliderable addition to the internal con-
fumption of the white inhabitants. . And
how much to be preferred, a numerous
free peafantry is to a few over- grown fa-
* A French author fneers at Boyle, for propoiing to propa-
gate Chriftianity among favages, with a view to make them
wear clothes, and thereby increafe the demand for Eng-
lifli manufadlures. Perhaps he aimed to catch men, by the
bait of intereft, who were dead to fentiments of religion and
humanity. Still the obfervation fhews, how much a progrefs
in religion draws^ after it focial advantages, and civilization,
of which the Moravian miifions in Greenland are a molt
convincing proof.
milies.
Conversion OF African Slaves. 115
milies, and their herds of naked, half flarved
Haves, is too evident to need explanation.
There are about 30,000 inhabitants in St.
Chriftopher's, of which not more than one in
ten is free. They are iii dread of infurredli-
ons in time of peace, and in time of war are
expofed to every fort of depredation ; every
pitiful privateer, while hovering around,
alarming the coaft, and endangering their
fafety. For at thefe times the Haves, far from
adding to their ftrength, weaken and dimi-
nifh it. But if all the inhabitants were free,
and had property and families to fight for,
what fliould they have to fear, who could
draw out full 8000 hardy men, habituated
to the climate, and, within five hours, have
them ranged in order againft any enemy that
might aflail them.
That fugar may be made by white labour-
ers, appeared in the firfl fettlement of our
iflands, efpecially Barbadoes. In the moft
flouriihing flate of that Ifland, the fugar-
cane was chiefly cultivated by white fer-
vants. It has fenfibly and gradually decayed
in trade and importance, fince the majority
of its inhabitants has been changed from
free-men to flaves. The flock of the planter
H 2 has
Ii6 On the Treatment ANf)
has indeed been increafed with the number^
and the price of his Haves ; but his neat
produce has not kept pace with it. Even
after this illand had been fome time on the
decline, one plantation {tl^e Bell) fitted out
a company of foldiers for the expedition
formed in 1691, under Codrington, agamft
Guadaloupe. If there be now on the fame
ipot, four white men, including the pro-
prietor, able to bear arms, it is a great pro-
portion. From this we may judge, how
much the ifland has fince loil in trade and
fecurity, even after allowing largely in the
calculation. Yet it continues to fupport a
greater proportion of free- men than our other
illands.*
To this inftance of making fugar by free-
men, we may add the example of Cochin
China. It fupplies the populous empire of
China with fugar, made by free-men. The
quantity exported is eftimated at 800,000,000
* About the time of the reftoration, the ifland of St. Chrif-
topher contained about x 0,000 French and Engliflt, capable
of bearing arms. About 1750, Nevis could arm above 5000.
The whole prefent militia of both iflands exceeds not 1000.
Such adellroyer is flavery of population,
pound.
Conversion OF African Slaves. 117
pound, or about 500,000 of caiks, which
greatly exceeds the quantity of fugar made
in the illes, and continent of America, by
African Haves. And this quantity may be
fuppofed capable of being greatly increafed,
if the manufacfture w^as carried on in the
fame accurate manner as in the European
colonies. For, according to Le Poivre, the
cane juice is only boiled into fyrup at the
place of growth, and in that flate is carried
to the feveral towns, to be fold to the fugar
baker, who boils, refines, and candies it.
After this tedious procefs, brown fugar is
fold at 3s. 4d. per hundred pound, white
fugar 6s. 8d. and candied fugar at 8s. In
our iilands brown fugar is worth by the
100 pound, from 20s. to 36s. fterling, and
yet many of our proprietors cannot pay
their intereft-money, and fupport their flock,
without fuppoiing any fhare of the produce to
be allotted as the returns of their own capital.
H 3 SECT.
ai8 On the Treatment and
SECT. III.
Their Mafters would be profited by their
advancement.
It might be difficult for government to
form a plan, that fhould at once extend full
liberty to, and thereby beftow due rank on
our flaves, without immediately indanger-
ing the property of their mafters, and of
the trading part of the nation connedted with
them in bufinefs and intereft. And it mufl
be acknowledged, that fuch at prefent is
the ignorant, helplefs condition of far the
greater part ȣ>f the flaves, that full liberty
would be no bleffing to them. They need
a mafter to provide and care for them. The
plan, propofed to advance and inilrud: them,
mufl be gentle, flov/ in its progrefs, keeping
pace with the opening of their minds, and
looking forward for its completion to a
diftant period.
The jQaves, in that little fpot, St. Chrif-
topher'Sj moderately appraifed, would exceed
Xi>30o,ooo, and as they are part of a ftock
^^ >C4>ooo,ooo, and give effeft and life to
Conversion OF African Slaves. 119
that ftcck, the fruits of their labours being
in mofl years worth to the confumers,
£700,000, it is evident that an immenfe
change or rather annihilation of property
would be occaiioned, if this fcheme took at
once eifedt in the colonies ; nor would it be
pollible to find the mafters an equivalent.
While I acknowledge this in favour of
the mafter, as things are now fituated, I am.
firmly of opinion, that a fugar plantation
might be cultivated to more advantage, and
at much lefs expence, by labourers who
were free-men, than by flaves. Men who,
like flaves, are ill treated, ill clothed, and
worfe fed, who labour not with any view
to their own profit, but for that of a mafler,
whom for his barbarity they perhaps abhor,
have not ftrength, nor fpirits, nor hope to
carry them through their tafk. A free- man,
labouring for himfelf, in the earning of his
wages, whofe food is portioned out by
himfelf, not by an unfeeling boy overfeer ;
who feels his own vigour, who looks for-
ward to the conveniences of life as connect-
ed with his induflry, will furely exert more
ilrength, will fliew more alacrity, than a
H 4 flarved.
120 On the Treatment and
ftarved, deprefTed, difpirited wretch, who
drawls out his talk with the whip over him.
It is a common day's labour, where the
work is carefully performed, for thirty
grown Haves to dig with hoes, in a loofe
gravelly foil, an acre of ground, into holes of
£ve feet by four, from about feven to twelve
inches deep, leaving fpaces between the rows
equal at leaft to half the holes, untouched,
to receive the mould. The fhare of fuch a
piece of work to one Have, will be a fpot of
nearly fifty by thirty feet, including the
untouched fpaces. A tafic this, that might
be more than doubled, by a labourer of or-
dinary ftrength, having fpirits and inclina-
tion to the work.
In St. Chriilopher's, 16000 ilaves, all ca«
pable of fome labour, are employed in the
cultivation of about iiooo acres ^ for the
whole cane-land of the ifland is about 22000
acres, and each field gives a crop once in
two years. This is in the proportion of
three Ilaves to the annual culture of two
acres ; a rate that would be unnecefiary a-
mong free-men, and which the Britifh prices
for Well- Indian produce could alone fup-
port,
Conversion of African Slaves. 121
port. It may be remarked, that this labour
has no winter celTation.
The common appraifement of prime field
ilaves, before the American war, was ^60 fher-
ling each ; the annual rent of a ilave was from
£t to ^8. The renter enfured them, if valued,
at five per cent, or ^3 more. A plantation
Have cofls the employer then, without reck-
oning food, clothes, phyfic, or taxes, full
^10 per annum, or one lixth part of his
appraifed value. A number of Ilaves, ca-
pable of producing on a plantation, well
furnifhed with live ftock and neceffary
buildings, 100 cafls:s of fugar, annually at a
medium, making but a moderate allowance
for their deaths in feafoning, if bought from
the flave-merchant, will amount on value,
to ^6000. In the new illands, before fuch
a number could be relied on, they have in
every cafe cofl much more -, in one, with-
in the author's knowledge, above the double
of this fum. The quantity of fugar here
fuppofed, and the rum ariling from it, in
moil: fituations will not keep the plantation
in neceffary ftores, and pay the current ex-
pences, and fupply a fund to anfwer fuch
accidents as hurricanes, blafls, iire, morta-
lity,
122 On the Treatment and
lity, and unfavourable feafons, and alfo
give ^1200 to the proprietor, as the pro-
duce of his lands, buildings. Haves, and
other ilock.
If his flaves be confidered as rented from
another man, and he infures them to the
ouqier, £ 1000 of this £ i 200 is immediate-
ly to be flruck off, as the value of the flaves
labour. There remains to the proprietor
^200, as the return of his lands, buildings,
and cattle. In fuch a plantation the build-
ings often have cofl: ^^3000 fterling, fom^e-
times more j the cattle, horfes, and mules
muft be worth from ^^600 to £ 1000. Per-
haps the proprietor has paid from 3^10,000
to £ 12,000 for the lands. The reader
may be aiTured this is no ideal calculation,
but in the ifland of St. Chriflopher, though
our moil: produdiive fugar colony in pro-
portion to its lize, has frequently come with^
in the author's obfervation. And is labour
fo injudicioufly laid out in any other part
of the V7orld ? Can any reafons be given,
why a fugar planter fhould prefer the em-
ploying of flaves to that of free-men, fee-
ing with a large diminution of returns, he
may have a much larger clear income than a.t
prefent.»
Conversion of African Slaves. 123
prefent. An argument, that when duly-
weighed, renders our expectations of the
extenlion of liberty, though diflant, not
extravagant.
But we will confider the policy of em-
ploying flaves purchafed with money, in
another point of view. In a free country,
a peafant in general executes twice the work
of a Have in the fugar colonies ^ we might
go farther, but this is fufficient for our
purpofe. On the other hand the peafant's
food is more found, more plentiful, his
clothes more expeniive than thofe of a
Have ; but not in proportion to the differ-
ence in value of their labour, perhaps not
exceeding greatly the infurance, and other
incidental charges of ilavery. In general,
this food and raiment are all that the pea-
fant, as well as the Have, reaps from his
labour, few of them railing themfelves by
their induftry to a fuperior ftation -, and
when they do this, it is effe(5ted by fuperior
induftry, or keennefs, and greater parlimony,
rather than by extraordinary wages. The
whole then of a peafant's labour (that pro-
portion excepted, which the Have in a cer-
tain degree alfo claims from his toil) be-
comes
124 ^^ "^"^ Treatment and
comes the profit and property of his em-
ployer, as fully and truly as if he were a
Have 3 with this difference in favour of the
firft, that the obligation, or tie between him
and his mafter, ends with the day's, or year's
labour, and draws no difagreeable or ex-
peniive confequences after it, to either of
the parties.
Now from the fuperior progrefs of popula-
tion in free countries, compared with that
of thofe wherein ilavery prevails, when a
peafant dies, his place is immediately fup-
plied in the courfe of generation ; the em-
ployer fuffers no damage, or lofs of time i
and while labour and improvement go equal-
ly on, even the public, to which every per-
fon in a free ilate may be faid to belong, is
not fenfible of the event. In fhort, in a free
ftate, the death of an individual is like a
ftone caft into the water, it makes a fudden
feparation of the parts, but the water clofes
on it, and fettles into a fmooth furface, as
if no accident had preceded. But to his
mafter, the death of a flave is a fenfible,
fevere lofs, which he mufl immediately re-
pair, at an heavy expence, that, after being
incurred, will not make him the fame pro-
fitable
Conversion of African Slaves. 125
fitable returns, as the labour of a peafant
for which he pays (and that not till after
the execution of the work) only fuch a
value as he ought to expend in the main-
tenance of his ilaves. The eftimation of
ufeful Haves, without taking lufl, caprice,
or favour into account, is according to their
trades and accomplifhments, from ^50 to
;f 300 fterling. Hence the death of a valua-
ble flave becomes a moft ferious matter to
the mafter, while a peafant, or tradefman,
will do him fuperior fervice, without origi-
nal expence, or daily rifk to him, or to the
public.
This is a view of the fubjeft, and a man-
ner of reafoning in it, which cannot, I appre-
hend, be controverted, and plainly proves, that
could we contrive a method of once getting
over the firft iliock, which fuch a change
Would occafion, and fet down free-men and
women (who in the common progrefs of
population, might fupport or increafe their
original number, in our colonies) in the
room of Haves, we fhould lefTen the nominal
value of the necelTary ftock, contra(5t tbe
expences of individuals, and much more
than doubJe their prefent profit. Here,
then.
12.6 On the Treatment and
then, we have an argument againft llavery,
which applies equally to the interefl of the
mafter, and the advantage of the public, and
ought to gain a fair hearing for every plan,
that propofes to lefTen the numbers, and
advance the condition of flaves. And were
we not afraid of ftartling the imaginations
of people, by the extraordinary alTertion,
we would not heiitate to affirm, that were
the minds of the negroes once opened, and
properly prepared -, and were they in gene-
ral confined to the cultivation of Weft-In-
dian produce, and the trades conned:ed with
it 5 and did government introduce from time
to time, till things became fettled on the
new bafis, at the expence of the colony, the
neceflary recruits j the general manumiffion
of flaves would be attended with no imme-
diate lofs to the planters ; and, by taking
away the neceffity of fupplying themfelves
with recruits at their own expence, would
be an important faving to them. Indeed,
after one generation, recruits would not be
wanted ; freedom would increafe fafter than
death iejjhzed their numbers.*
* The reader will be pleafed with the following fenfible
remarks of a gentleman of Barbadoes, on his perufxng this fee-
tion in manufcript.
Barbadoes,
Conversion of African Slaves. 127
A- ilate of abfolute freedom is indeed a
revolution that we may rather v^iih for, than
expert
Barbadoes, of all the Weft-Indian iflands, can the leaft af-
ford the immenfe expenfe of an annual fupply of flaves. As
the white inhabitants are numerous, flavery might be abolifh-
ed in a few years, without an individual fuifering by it. The
majorityof the inhabitants are indigent. There are numbers
of flaves, who, having been taught trades, are become highly
valuable, of whom, one, two, or a few, are frequently the only
fupport of whole white families, v/ho live in indolent poverty
on the returns of their labour, and by their death find them-
felves reduced to the utmoft diftrefs, and incapable of doing
any thing for themfelves. Ifthisfortof precarious property
were not univerfally relied on, fo as to have a general ill eifedl
on the manners of the people, they would of neceillty be forced
to be more induftrious in themfelves, and more osconomical in
their expences. If flavery were checked, the poor white peo-
ple, who, at prefent, (from the circumftance of their living
meanly idle on the labours 6£ others,) are perhaps the moft
lifelefs, inactive fet of mortals, on the whole earth, would be
obliged to exert themfelves in the cultivation of their own, and
others lands, and foon would perceive their conftitutions andcir-
cumftances equally improv^ed. The great land-holders would
find their expences and their profits go hand in hand ; for they
would pay only for produdlive labour. The moft induftrious
labourers would command the beft employment, and the moft
punctual pay would conftantly have the preference. Thus
pundluality and application would encourage each other, re-
new the face of the colony, and put the whip and chain to
fhame. It would be a great ftep towards this defirable pur-
pofe, if the introduftion of flaves into the colony was prohibit-
ed by ftatute, and all afts that lay fines upon thofe mafters
who free their flaves, were repealed. Every method fliould
be
128 On the Treatment and
expedt for fome time to fee, though doubt-
lefs it is within the plan of providence, and of
man's progreffive advancement in fociety.
It fuppofes a regard for religion, a looking
beyond immediate profit, and a foundnefs
of policy, foreign to the eilimation, and
opinion of the prefent age. To make the
plan efFedual, it fhould prevail in every
European fettlement j an event fo little to
be expelled from the manners v^hich now pre-
vail, that a man would not venture the im-
putation of fuch extravagance, as the bare
fuggeftion of it would be deemed. For
could fo many oppofing interefts be recon-
ciled -J and fiiould a partial innovation take
place, that prefent bugbear of European po-
licy, the balance of trade, would be fup-
pofed to be in danger.
be ufed, that would induce the people to refpeft the inftitvttions
of religion, and wean them from that careleffnefs refpefting
them, which is fo prevalent, and has fuch baneful efFeftson their
manners. The flaves in Barbadoes are perhaps more ripe for
thefe privileges than thofe of our other colonies ; becaufe the
proportion of Creoles, or natives, is greater among them ; they
are more converfant with the free people, and are lefs pinned
down than in other iflands to digging the ground. It is
certain, they have in their prefent ftate been at different times
trufted with arms j corps of them have been formed, and on all
occafions have difcovered an alacrity that promifed every pof-
fible exertion.
But
Conversion OF African Slaves. 129
But were ilaves inftrudled in the fimple
precepts of religion ; were they taught to
diftinguiih right from wrong 5 did the law
fecure to them a more plentitul fubfiftence,
more humane ufage; were they permitted
to acquire and enjoy property j were the
rights of a family made facred ; could they
look forward to freedom, as the reward of
merit, or the purchace of induflry ; in fhort,
were they confidered as having fome rights,
fome claims, as intitled to fome of the un-
alienable, fome of the referved rights of
human nature ; their condition would in
confequence be advanced, they would be-
come more ufeful, more profitable fubjedts,
and, might even be trufted with arms, in
defence of the colony in which they have
an intereft. Indeed it is not their want of
arms, but their good fenfe and moderation,
in moft colonies, that are a prefent fecurity
to the inhabitants. I forbear to fay more on
fo dangerous a topic*
SECT.
• It Is worthy of obfervatlon, that though the artificers in
the King's dock yards had, from their firft eftablilhment, been
I engaged.
130 On the Treatment an!)
S E C T. IV.
Their Mailers would be profited by allowing
their Slaves the Privilege of a weekly
Sabbath.
We have proved^ that the gradual exten-
lion of freedom would have the beft effe(fls
refpe(fling
engaged, and liberally paidj by the day, yet within thefe
twelve years, it has been found moft expedient to employ and
pay them by the piece, or job ; the men earning more, and the
public getting more work, and that cheaper done, than in the
former method, when they jufl: drawled out the prefcribed
number of hours, and like Cyrus's well-trained foldier, would
fufpend the up-lifted axe, at the firft llroke of the bell that
called them off from their work. Good farmers alfo employ
labourers, wherever they can, by the piece, and induftrious
men prefer it, as being mutually moft profitable. In Kent,
where there is the greateft variety of agriculture, almoft every
kind of work is paid for by the piece or job.
If moderate fkilful planters would fet down, and reduce into
a table, the feveral rates of negro-labour, by the day, and a
ftatute were enafted, that fhould give the flave, who had per-
formed this tafk, the reft of his time to himfelf, or intitle him
to wages for what he lliould do more than this ; and if all
flaves were valued, and permitted by this their extra work
gradually to buy out themfelves, or their time ; and if it were
only provided, that after they became free, they fhould con-
tinue to be employed about the bufinefs of a plantation ; in
this fituation, planters might have the original coft of their
flaves repaid them, and would ftill have the fame people to
do
Conversion of African Slaves. 131
refpeding both the mailer and the commu-
nity. But it v/ill require new regulations,
and the confent of government and people,
to eftablifh the plan. What follows here
has already the fancSion of law, and is now
the practice, in proportion to the difcretion
and fellow-feeling of the mafter. The in-
fringement on that reft of the fabbath,
which we wifh to vindicate for the Have,
do their work better than at prefent, for food and raiment ;
only fewer in number would anfwer their purpofe, and their
intereft would not be aiFefted by any accident that befel them.
The labourers, on the other hand, when their jobs were finifh-
ed, would be their own matters, and be able to enjoy them-
felves, and their families. They would feel an ambition to
become worthy members of fociety, and to partake, with their
former matters, now become their patrons and benefadlors,
in the inftitutions of a religion, that confidered them all as
equally the children of the fame benevolent Father. One im-
mediate confequence of the relaxation of flavery, would be the
introduction of ploughs, which have always anfwered where*
ever they have been tried, and are only thrown afide, becaufe
it is ealier for a manager to order out a flave with his hoe in
his hand, than to yoke horfes or cattle in a plough. It is
indeed a maxim, in carrying on all labour, never to do that
by a man, that you can execute by a brute ; nor to do that by an
anirnal, that you can make a mechanical inllrument perform.
Thus all hand-hoe ploughing, except in particular cafes,
would be cut off, and all cattle mills for grinding canes would
be exchanged for water or wind-mills. This method of work-
ing out freedom by labour is faid to be eftabliflied by a law iu
the SpanifVi colonics, for the encouragement oftheir flaves.
I 2 is
13
2 On the Treatment and
is an indecent breach, both of religion and
law, while it counteracts, in no fmall degree,
its own mean purpofe of accumulation.
But fuch is the progreffive nature of the
cravings of luxury and avarice, that if the
cuftom once gets a footing, reafon in vain
will folicit an hearing; and religion has lofl
her influence, and law her authority, (hould
they attempt to interpofe. Our only hope
remains in being able to pre-occupy the
judgment. As this refers to a particular
event in one of our colonies, which is too
likely to take place in others, the argu-
ments are prefented to the public in their
original drefs ; and thofe, who are beft ac-
quainted with the treatment that flaves ufu-
ally meet with, will be leaft apt to imagine
that the author has been too full, or too
warm on the fubjedt.
An Addrefs to the Inhabitants of St. Chrif-
topher's. Anno 1775, fliewing the Claim
of Dependents to the Privilege of the
Sabbath.
SIRS,
Within thefe laft ten months, a cuftom has
been introduced among you, of employing
ilaves
Conversion of African Slaves. 133
ilaves in carrying on the ordinary plantation
work on Sunday, of ploughing the ground,
planting, v^^eeding, and grinding the cane,
boiling the fugar, and diftilling the rum.
It began on a particular plantation, and ha«
found its way to each extremity of the illand.
It is true, it is not yet become general, and
many planters firmly exprefs their diflike of
a practice, which, in itfelf impolitic and in-
judicious, bids fair, if encouraged, to banifh
humanity, and annihilate a religion that
barely ftruggles for exiftence in our land.
But bad examples are contagious; and feem-
ing intereft in fome and emulation in others
will go on, as they already have begun, to
draw numbers into a cuftom that flatters in-
duftry, and feeds the hopes of extravagance
and avarice.
No account of this fp reading violation of
our laws and religion having yet been taken
by the magiftracy, the trefpaffers are induced
to believe that law cannot interpofe to check
jt : a miflake which it is neceffary to corred:
in men, who think nothing a crime but a
deed for which law ordains a punifhment.
As it fell to my lot to take the firft notice of
this unhallowed pradlice, I have been obliged
I 3 to
i;^4 ^^ ^^^ Treatment and.
to pay an attention to the fubje6t; and hence
I am enabled to affure thefe trefpaffers, who
wrap themfelves up in their impunity, that
when the cafe is brought before a court,
they will not find a lawyer, however pro-
fligate his private charad:er may be, who
will rifk his profeffional reputation by un-
dertaking the defence of fo notorious a breach
of human and divine laws : and could they
find fuch a man, no judge or bench of ma-
giftrates could allow him to plead againft the
laws and religion of his country. Their
defence muft be confined to a fingle denial of
the fad:.
If we view the matter in a religious light,
the fabbath is appointed by God for fuch
pious, humane, and even worldly- wife pur-
pofes, as to lead us to conclude, that no-
thing will more readily draw down judg-
ments on, nor fooner execute the ruin of,
a finful community, than a contempt of this
benevolent inftitution. Sabbath-breaking
makes a conflant capital figure among the
crimes that kindled God's wrath againft the
Jews. Farther, from God's ftrid; injundion
to them, from whom we derive this inftitu-
tiop, to punilTi, everi to defirrudion, any
family
CeNVERsioN OF African Slaves, 135
family or city that they fliould find guilty of
idolatry among them, which was an offence
fimply againft his authority; we may con-
clude, that if a community fuffers an infult
on this law of the fabbath, which has both his
authority and general benevolence in view,
to pafs unpunished, it will, by fuch its neg-
led:, fubjedt to his wrath not only individuals
that are a(flually guilty of the crime, but
the magiftracy and people at large, who are
thus carelefs of vindicating his honour and
the claims of humanity. I will leave it to
yourfelves, after what you have lately fuffered
in your iins, to determine what need you
have to give the Governor of the world this
new provocation againft you. Woe be to
that community v/hich forces the Deity
to refume the vindication of his laws from
the hands of the ordinary magiftrate. Un-
diftinguifliing ruin will involve the luke-
warm profeffor and hardy trefpaffer together.
May Providence, by your reformation, avert
the evil which every thinking man dreads on
your account. To contribute to this end, and
fet fuch right as have been unwittingly drawn
into the practice, who yet have minds open
to convidion, we fubmit to them the follow-
ing confiderations :
I 4 Tne
136 On the Treatment and
The good man, on the fabbath, interrupts
his ufual employments, not only to have lei-
fure to review his condud:, to improve hi^
mind for futurity, to reflect on, and blefs
God for his mercies, but alfo for the fake of
his dependents: they are indulged w^ith a
refpite from labour, and a weekly feftival,
which make fervitude tolerable. This com-
paffion is followed by its proper reward.
Continual toil would wear out the conftitu-
tions of fervants long before their natural
period of decay; but, during this day of reft,
they renew their ftrength, and the hopes of
its weekly return make them chearfully un-
dergo their common labour. The ufeful ox
repays the indulgence in patient enduring.
Indeed, this day of reft, which God com-
mands us to allow all whom he hath fub-
mitted to our rule, is an acknowledgment,
that he obligeth us to pay for the dominion
he hath granted us over the lower world.
And, therefore, though the promulgation
and extent of this precept reft on the po-
iitive command of God exprefted in fcripture,
yet is the foundation moral : it is laid deep in
the principles of humanity, grows up with
obedience to our Creator, and fiouriftieth
\vith
Conversion OF African Slaves. 137
with equity and benevolence to our fellovt^-
creatures. It is a mark of holding our power
from God, a right referved to himfelf, to /hew
his care of even the meaneft of his creatures.
And it teacheth us, in a manner plain for
him that runneth to read it, that we had not
our prefent rank in the creation beftovved on
us, to be the unfeeling tyrants, but the mer-
ciful prote<ftors, of the inferior world.
But as a contrary pradlice is nov/ introduced
here, with a parade, indeed, of fuperior in-
duftry, but a fovereign contempt of decency,
common opinion, religion, and law; we mufl
difcufs this point of indulgence to depend-
ents, and fliew, (befides contradidting the
motives above, which I hope have yet fome
influence among mankind) that he, who falls
into fo inconfiderate a pradiice, lins againfl
prudence, and counteradis that aim after opu-
lence, which can be the only pretence for fo
extraordinary, fo alarming a condud:. In
doing this, we need not enter into any nice
phyfical difq-uiiition concerning the animal
powers of the labouring part of the creation,
nor into any train of reafoning, to ihew the
neceffity of a frequent fucceffion of reft to
labour to preferve the animal machine from
wearing
138 On the Treatment and
wearing out before the period fet by nature:
wewill appeal to yourown experience, whether
thofe men reap not the mofl lafting advan-
tages from the labour of their oxen, their
horfes, and that ftill more ufeful, though
neglefted animal, called a negroe Have, who
confult their feveral feelings, and give the
fignal to ceafe from toil^ before the languid
effort of wearinefs folicitsrefpite. Are they the
moft fuccefsful in the field of induilry, or do
they moft enjoy the evening of life, who con-
ftantly put forth all their ftrength, who rife
early, and late take reft; or they, who fo tem-
per labour and reft, that each defires the
return of the other. Look around among
your neighbours, whofe Haves, whofe cattle,
are the moft healthy, or exert the greateft
vigour; who fuffers leaft by their mortality;
who reaps moft from their labour ? Is it not
he who encourages, favours, fpares them,
who properly nouriflies them, and never en-
croaches on the hour of food or reft ? Or can
any temporary acquifition, v/rung from un-
feafonable labour, compenfate for an hofpital
filled with wretches dead or dying, for a
crew of haggard, difeafed fpedires, whojfe
ruined
Conversion of African Slaves. 139
ruined constitutions, and famifhed looks,
reproach the avarice of the hard-hearted
mafter.
Is it faid, in return, that the mafter buys
this extraordinary labour, on Sunday, with
an extraordinary price. Let me aik him, who
gives this reafon, would he pufh a generous
horfe, till the noble animal himfelf o-ave out
p
And is he to care lefs for a creature of his
own kind, becaufe anxious to recommend
himfelf to his favour by a flrained exertion
of his ftrength? The mafter, by the very
tenure of his authority, is obliged to confult
the conftitution of thofe who labour for him,
that he may reftrain their efforts within their
ability, and keep their fervice to him within
the limits of their own perfonal happinefs.
If, as fome pretend, it be meant to increafe
the allowance of food, by this new cuftom
of Sunday's wages, let them tell why, till
now, they have provided fo fcantily for their
Haves, as to make this addition necelTary;
or let them give a good reafon why a wretch
who drudges the fix days for another man's
luxury, fhould not eat plentifully, and have
the feventh alfo for a day of refl.
If
140 On the Treatment and
If the planter fay s^ he only bribes other mens
flaves into his Sunday's fervice, let him go to
his neighbour, and afk him for the ufe of his
cattle, during the hours allotted for food and
reft, and report his anfwerj or let him at-
tempt to take them away, and work them
clandeftinely, and fee whether they will not
be reclaimed. And fhall a confiderate mafter,
who works his ilaves to their full ability;
and who, it fhould be prefumed, feeds them
properly, fuffer them to wear their ftrength
out in another man's fervice for a little
paultry hire, that ought not to be neceflary
for them^ Or, if he did, could he exped:
them to exert themfelves with vigour for him
in the week, when their ftrength has been
worn down in his neighbour's fervice on
Sunday, and they have not had time to re-
cruit it? God, who beft knows the confti-
tution of his creatures, and formed them ex-
prefsly for labour, hath allotted for reft- not
only the nightly fucceftion of darknefs and
weekly return of the fabbath, but has divided
every lingle day into ftiort intervals of labour
and reft, by making a frequent repetition of
food neceflary for recruiting and refrediing
the body. And fhall we pretend to be wifer
tharv
Conversion of African Slaves. 141
than he is, or to know better what the ani-
mal conftitution is capable of performing ?
One reafon is given for this cuftom, which
puts the obfervation of Sunday as a day of
reft, on plantations, wholly in the overfeers
power : if a Have behaves to the fatisfadiion
of the overfeer throughout the week, he is
to be indulged with Sunday, if not he fhali
work there on his mafter's field. And this
humane reafon is added, that the common
punifhment of withholding their ufual allow-
ance of food is injudicious, and therefore
working on Sunday is fubflituted for it. I
am ready to give up the propriety of ftarving
men as a mode of punifhment. But is not
the obliging them to work on Sundays alfo to
jRiarve them^ feeing, in the prefent pinched
method of feeding them, every Have is forced
to eke out his portion with his private Sundays
labour ? And doth not this extraordinary
labour on Sunday a6l as a farther lefTening of
their allowance, by wearing out their ftrength
in toiling on the day in which they fhould
have had leifure to'recruit it after the week's
labour, while the means of acquiring food
by private labour to repair this extraordinary
wafte are withheld from them.
But
142 On the Treatment and
But we give Sunday, as a day of reft to our
flaves, in obedience to the command of our
common Father. And nothing but a duty,
fuperior in its confequences, and immediate
in its call, or an unforefeen opportunity of
doing an ad: of benevolence can fet it afide.
Now as a duty owing immediately to God,
it cannot be affeded by any pretended intereft
of our own, or demerit on our fervants part.
Are God's laws to be fo little efteemed of,
that every unthinking boy, fet over a few
helplefs wretches, with a whip in his hand,
may annul them at pleafure ? Shall he, to
punifh a trifling offence againfl the plan-
tation difcipline, too frequently exifling
only in his own mifappreheniion or neglect,
be allowed to make havock of the laws of re-
ligion and his own duty to God? Unhappy
age into which we are fallen, when, leaving
the plain road of obedience, we fet up to
reform the laws and religion, not of our
country only, but of our God !
It is fuggefled further, that in crop time,
in particular quarters, the ripe canes are fo
apt to become tainted, that it is a work of
neceffity to grind them off on Sunday. To
this we anfwer, *' The God of feafons en-
joined
Conversion of African Slaves. 143
joined the obfervation of the fabbath, and
his laws are ultimately for the benefit of the
obedient." The circumftance here pleaded
may be intended for an exercife of our trufl
in his Providence, but can never come under
the defcription of thofe works of neceffity
or mercy, that are not only proper, but com-
mendable on Sunday. Sagacity may forefee,
prudence may provide for fuch accidents ;
method and good ufage may, and where ufed,
acftually do, increafe the tale of labour, oh
common days, far beyond what is forced out
on this day appointed for reft. And were
not this, v/hich yet may be, in every cafe,
tj-ue, yet God's veracity and providence are
engaged that his fervants fhould not ulti-
mately fuiter by their obedience. But, as we
have remarked, and fliall further prove, the
truth is, this continued toil over-ad:s the
purpofe of induftry, without fuppofing God,
in his Providence, to puniih the infult done
to his laws and religion.
One reafon is given for this pracflice, that
carries a face of concern for religion, bat is
fufficiently abfurd, and felfifh in the appli-
cation. ** Slaves cannot keep the fabbath as
Chrifciansj and if not employed for their
m mafters.
144 ^^ '^^^ Treatment ano
maflcrs, will labour for themfelves," Now
the trifling Sundays works, in their own
grounds, v/hich an injudicious cuftom has
permitted, and their fcanty allowance of
food has made necelTary, is done in fuch
manner and circumflances, as rhakes it more
an amufement than a labour; nor can it be
compared with toiling in their mafter's field
under the whip of an overfecr. But I can
recoiled: a particular plantation, where the
manager, fome years ago, with a goed inten-
tion, made the Haves exert themfelves on
Sundays, as much in their own ground, as in
their mafter's fields, throughout the week;
and the confequence was, that from this in-
cefTant fatigue, the plantation required a
yearly fupply of flaves, above a tenth part
of the whole number maintained. Since
they have been left to their own inclinations
on Sundays, they have been moil remarkably
healthy; nor, I believe, had or needed a
recruit thefe lafl fixteen years. The planta-
tion is particularly well fupplied with pro-
vifions; and the flaves have been treated with
peculiar humanity and method.
But if flaves do not hallow the fabbath in
a rational manner, cannot their mafters and
overfeei#v
Conversion of African Slaves. 145
overfeers, by their own behaviour, fandlify it.
And, furely to overlook what you cannot
prevent in another, differs widely from the
commanding of him to commit a crime, of
which you mean to reap the advantage.
That Haves cannot rationally keep the fab-
bath is matter of ferious concern. I pray God
we may not all be made accountable for it.
Still allow this argument what weight you
pleafe ; God is the God of the bodies as well
as of the fouls of his creatures, and he wills
and attends equally to the welfare of both;
and the fabbath is intended to refrefh the one,
and improve the other. Oxen and horfes can-
not keep a Chriftian fabbath; yet, their
Creator refpefts their eafe, and, among other
purpofes, appointed the fabbath exprefsly to
favour it. And, furely, God doth not Icfs
regard the bodily fenfations of human
wretches, becaufe in his Providence, forbid-
den yet certainly wife purpofes, he hath
hitherto fuifered them to be immediately.fub-
jested to the caprice, the avarice, the crueltyof
their fellows, though endued with keener feel-
ings than the brutes, and greater feniibility of
their claims. Farther, God accepts favourably
what fervice and thanks his creatures are able
K to
146 On the Treatment and
to pay himj and the fimple rude way in
which negroes, in their Sunday's amufements,
exprefs their fatisfad:ion in his difpenfations,
will not be rejeded, but be received with
approbation and condefcenlion to their weak-
nefs.
When we have made every allowance
that charity or conlideration can fuggeft, no
man acquainted with the ufual progrefs of
human affairs, and the conftant tendency of
cuflom, but muft fee, in this unhallowed,
hired, Sunday's labour, the haftening aboli-
tion of refpedt to that day, and of extraor-
dinary hire for working on it. Poverty is
craving; avarice infatiable^ luxury boundlefs.
And were Sunday once melted down into the
week, men would try v/hat more could be
cut off from the darknefs, and folitude, and
reft of night.
But without taking into account the inhu-
manity, the immorality, the imprudence,
the irreligion of the practice ; what impu-
dence, refpedling fociety, doth it imply,
when thus a private man fets his felfifh opi-
nion up againft the laws of his country, and
dares to infult them publickly, by adling in
dired oppofition to an exprefs ftatute? How
pregnant
Conversion OF African Slaves. 147
pregnant in ill confequences muft the ex-
ample be, in a community w^here cullom has
reduced almofl the whole of an eftablifhed
religion to bodily reft on the fabbath ? Piety,
foon, will not have a fingle thread of com-
munication by which to lay hold on our
pradice. How necelTary, therefore, to fix a
mark on fuch profane condudl, before cuftom
has ftamped a fafhion on it, and fancflified it?
And often, for what is humanity, religion
and law thus wounded? To anfwer the de-
mands of extravagance, to fill the bags of
avarice, to fupply the funds of luxury.
Slavery, in its mildeft fhape, has fomething
dangerous and threatening to virtue; but
when the very marrow and blood of our fel-
low creatures are exhaufted in the cruel
fervice of avarice or fenfuality, the equal
Father of all muft call in fome dreadful ven-
geance to punifh the abufe.
I mean not fo much to reile(5r on indivi-
duals, who may already be guilty of this
unfeeling, imprudent practice, as to exalt to
its proper motives of religion, benevolence,
and obedience to your country's laws, that
abhorrence which hath been entertained
againft an a(flion that is an outrage to com-
mon fenfe, and common opinion; and which,
K 2 v/e
148 On the Treatment and
we are taught in fcripture, never fails to draw
down God's wrath on the people who permit
it to be done with impunity among them.
It is an offence, which, if not checked in its
progrefs, may renew thofe judgments that
for our fins were lately poured out on usi
under which we now, and long muft con-
tinue to fmart; without provoking farther
God's vengeance, or obliging him to fend
new or extraordinary punifliments to chaf-
tife or reclaim us.* Could I keep you from
the contagion of example, I fhould rejoice^
Whoever has thus finned againft God, and his
country, fhall have my prayers, that he may
be infpired with a right way of thinking.
Of this be affured, that fuch an extraordi-^
nary mode of induftry is not the path in
which God's blefilngs are to be met with.
And they who ufe it have reafon to fear,
left a diftrefsful turn in their affairs make
this day of liberty and reft, which they want
to cut off from fociety, the only day in
which they dare to enjoy their freedom. -f*
* Since this period this colony has been greatly reduced by
fire, floods, war, capture by the enemy, and fuch unfavourable
feafons, as had hardly happened before in the memory of man.
f Itis certain, that he who began this cuftom, within twelve
months durft not on any other day fliew his face for fear of
his creditors.
But
CONV-ERSION OF AFRICAN SlAVES. I49
But if God did not, as certainly he doth,
mix therewith a fecret canker, to eat up the
fubftance of the offender, yet the unfeeling,
hurrying mode of thus working flavcs,
would, by wafting their ftrength and health,
be of itfelf fufficient punifhment. And,
fuppoiing the obfervation of the fabbath to
depend wholly for its fand:ion on revelation,
and the breach of it to be followed by no
natural lofs, which is far from the truth;
yet, if you be diligent and obedient to the
law, for God's fake, he can, in his Pro-
vidence, and will, in a thoufand ways, make
up any imaginary facrifice of time and profit
to a truft in his word, and will proceed in
an inconceivable manner to blefs and profper
you.
I fhall conclude with an obfervation drawn
from mechanics, Though a man of ordi^
nary ilrength can raife, at a fingle effort,
a much greater weight, yet the moft ad-
vantageous exertion of it is within thirty
pounds weight; and he, who works diligently
eight hours a day, will do more work in a
week, than he who drawls out in languid ejqr
f.rtions fourteen hours.
K 3 CHAP,
( 15° )
CHAP III.
The Advancement of Slaves muft accompany
their religious Infl:ru6:ion.
I SHALL confider the advantage of pro-
moting ilaves in focial life, as proved
beyond a poffibility of contradi(5tion j but, as
my particular aim is to get religion extended
to them, I mufi: ihew that there is a con-
nexion between focial privileges and religious
inflrudioni and that the making of a pro-
grefs in either requires them to go hand in
hand, and influence each other. That men
were intended both for fociety and religion,
and that thefe tv^^o meant to fupport each
other, is a conclulion to be drawn from every
circumflance that refpefts our powers and
conftitution. The helplefs ftate of infancy,
the variety and inequality of our faculties,
all attach us to a particular community, fit
us
Conversion OF African Slaves. 151
us for our various ftations in it, and give
it an indiffoluble claim to our fervice and af-
fiftance. And religion brings confcience in to
the aid of focial regulations, and fits the man
for adiing his part in his proper ftation.
Religion has a two-fold purpofe: man*s
ultimate fate as an individual, and his con-
dud; as a member of fociety. Man, in order
to become a good member of fociety, mufl
be infpired w^ith religious principles; that
he may not countera6l the common views,
out of fecret fi'aud, malice, or felfifhnefs,
but be carried on to every generous exertion
by which the public happinefs can be effed:ed.
Religion, then, mufl: enter into every plan
that has the general good or profit in view.
As far, therefore, as we refpedt the profperity
of our country, we muil wifli to extend the
influence of religion to all thofe who are
comprehended within her laws. But, as
Chriftians, we have flill a ftronger principle
of adlion to excite us to exert ourfelves in
enlarging the empire of religion by every
benevolent method within our power. Re-
ligion determines the future lot of the
individual, and the grand principle of be-
nevolence that runs through it, makes
his happinefs depend on his doing all
K 4 the
152 On the Treatment and
the good in his power here to his brethren
around him. But the inftrudtian of our ne-
groe flaves is an adt of goodnefs of the high-
eft and moft extenfive nature : and the cir-
cumftances of our having originally inflaved
them, of their living intirely for, and de-
pending on us, and too frequently being op-
preiTed and cruelly treated by individuals
among us, gives them the ftrongeft claim for
receiving it at our hands. The privileges of
Chriilianity are of a diffufive nature, and
have this condition among others annexed,
that we fhall communicate them ; freely
we have received, freely we mull give. And,
in a cafe where none within our reach are to
be excepted from iharing in the benefit, how
highly incumbent is it on us to exalt to rea-
fon and religion thofe whom our avarice has
deprelTed, even to brutality.
But, becaufe, in the demand of duty we
are often deiirous of compounding matters,
and in the prefent cafe, probably, may ima-
gine that the higheft purpofes of religion may
be gained without fuch an alteration in the
condition of Haves, as while it refts on fpecula-
tive arguments, may be thought fomewhat
4angeroi|S; it will be neceifary to fhew, that,
as the opprelfed fituation of negroe flaves
prevents
Conversion of African Slaves. 153
prevents the community from reaping many
important advantages from them, fo it inca-
pacitates them from making, in any con-
liderable degree, a progrefs in religious
knowledge. To make a man capable of reli-
gion, we muft endow him with the rights
and privileges of a man j we muft teach him
to feel his weight in fociety, and fet a value
on himfelf, as a member of the community,
before we can attempt to perfuade him to
lay in his claim to heaven. To fhew the
reader, therefore, the neceffity of advancing
the flave, in the fcale of focial life, before we
offer him a participation of our religion^
I fhall relate the little efficacy of fuch at-
tempts as have been made to communicate
religious knowledge to him in his hitherto
debafed ftate. And if fuch a communication
be, as I have affirmed, not only a valuable
but an indifpenfable objedt to fociety, I
ffiall, in doing this, eftablifh the neceffity of
improving his condition in focial life.
SECT. I.
Examples of the Difficulty found in inflirudl:-
ing Slaves in their prefent State.
I am forry to be obliged to remark how
little, till within thefe very few years, has
been
1^4 On the Treatment and
been attempted or propofed on this head.
For though the race of authors and projec-
tors equal the leaves of the trees as much
in their numbers, as they refemble them in
the fhortnefs of their exiftence ; yet, unlefs
we take into account a few unconned:ed at-
tempts, a few general ftridtures, and fome
unmeaning declamations, our Haves had
hardly found a protetor worthy of the ap-
pellation, till the publication of the late
Hiflory of Jamaica ^ and the vindication they
have found in it, as we fhall have occafion to
remark, is on fuch humiliating terms, as will,
I fear, do them little good. Still the nature
and ilfue of thefe attempts to inftrud: and
ferve them in their prefent oppreffed ftatc,
will be fufficient to mark that improbability
of fuccefs which we have affirmed.
Robertfon, a minifter in Nevis, about fif-
ty years ago, wrote profelTedly on the con-
verlion of Haves in our colonies, and feems
to have been willing to have laboured ho-
neftly in it himfelf. But it is to be remarked
of him, that he takes no notice of the in-
tire want of law to fecure to them proper
treatment, nor fo much aa hints that this want
is of any difadvantage to them. And, in refpedt
pf their converiion, he plainly fhews that no-
thing
Conversion OF African Slaves. 155
thing confiderable can be done in it, unlefs
government interpofe in earnefl to carry it on.
But before government can meddle with
flaves, it muft take them iirft Vv^ithin the
bofom of fociety, advance their condition,
protect in them the claims of human nature,
and make them objedls of police.
He propofes that government fhould keep
up a number of mifiionaries among the colo-
nies, by rotation, whofe whole employment
fhould be -to inflrud: the flaves, as fail as they
acquired the language, or grew up to be
capable of inftrudtion. Their only reward,
he thinks, fhould be a prefent maintenance,
and a promife of being provided for at
home, when the time of their mifiion was
expired. In this plan, the reader will im-
mediately obferve, that the miffionary will
require fome time to gain a facility in teach-
ing, and that, if he returns home after a few
years, he mud: relign to others his ftation,
when he is become fit to hold it. The time
of his employment will, therefore, require
to be regulated in a particular manner to ob-
viate this inconveniency.
He earneftly endeavours to exculpate the
planters for having done fo little in this affair,
from their hurry of bufinefs, their own ig-
norance.
156 On the Treatment and
norance, their inability in point of fortune.
He farther attempts to prove, that negroes,
in general, are ill adapted for inftruftion,
by reafon of their fulkinefs, ftupidity, pre-
judices; in many, an incapacity of making
any tolerable progrefs in the language ; and,
laftly, the univerfal carelelTnefs that prevails
among them about every thing that does not
ftrike their fenfes.
In (hort, from his obfervations, a man
would be apt to conclude, that he was of
opinion that the manufad:ure of fugar, and
the pradlice of religion, were things incom-
patible; and that before we began to de-
liberate about the converiion of Haves, the
previous quellion had need to be difculTed,
whether we fhould maintain this manufacture,
or apply ourfelves to promote the growth of
Chriilianity. But whatever may be the in-
trinfic merit of his plan, it has been too long
before the public unnoticed, for us to ex-
pert much from it at this day.
A planter of , a man of educa-
tion, and of a religious turn of mind, about
twenty-four years ago attempted the conver-
iion of his own ilaves. He himfelf became
their catechift and preacher. He increafecj
their
Conversion of African Slaves. 157
their allowance of food, clothed them de-
cently, treated them vv^ith humanity, tried
to reafon rather than whip them out of
their faults, and granted them many indul-
gencies in the hours and degrees of their
labour. He purfued his plan during a good
many years, and, as was faid, at iirft with
fome degree of fuccefs : but fome time be-
fore his death, according to the author's in-
formation, he gave up the defign, in defpair
of effedting any thing confiderable by it.
The caufes of his ill fuccefs, that have been
alligned, were a relaxation of difcipline re-
fped:ing their obedience and labour, for
which they were not ripe; and his infilling
on too accurate an obfervation of the fab-
bath, in the manner of the Jews, while they
had no mental employment to fubftitute oh
it for their ufual private labour, and focial
amufements. In fliort, the indulgencies that
fhould have been tht reward of improvement
and good behaviour, were made to precede
them; and there was nothing left to allure
them, or encourage them in the work. But,
fince his death, feveral of his people have
joined themfelves to the Moravians, who
have a miflion in the colony.
A con-
ij;8 On the Treatment and
A confiderable number of years ago, the
abfent owner of a plantation fent out pofi-
tive ilanding inftrudiions to his manager, to
have his flaves carefully inilru(5ted in the
Chriilian religion, and baptized. He ac-
companied this order with directions to treat
them in every refped: with conliderate hu-
manity, and to do for them whatever was
poilible to make their fliate eafy, and their
lives happy. The minifter of the parifh ac-
cordingly was applied to, and a recompence
for his trouble was agreed on. Here then
was a profped; of a fair trial of what could
poffibly be effed;ed among Haves in their pre-
fent ftate; but the manager's injudicious
choice of an inftrudor blafled every rea-
fonable expedlation. The minifler was not
even oftenfibly decent, and never afFedled to
be guided by principles of duty that he did
not feel. He faw nothing in the propofal
but an increafe of income to himfelf, and
was determined to intitle himfelf to it in
the ealieft manner poffible. The following
was his method :
He came to the plantation on a Sunday
afternoon, and defired the manager to coi-
led eight or ten flaves to be baptized. They.
were
Conversion OF African Slaves. 159
were brought before him. He began to repeat
the office of baptifm. When he had read as
far as that part of the fervice w^here he was to
fprinkle them with water, if their former name
pleafed him he baptized them by it ; but if
he thought it not fit to call a Chriftian by, as
was his opinion of Quamina, Bungee, and the
like, he gave them the firft Chriftian name
which occured to his memory. This name
the bearer, perhaps, could not repeat, and
fcarcely ever remembered afterwards j fo that
he continued to be diftinguiflied among his
fellows by his old heathen name.
The minifter, being once afked, what end
he propofed in performing the ceremony in
this fuperficial manner ? frankly replied,
** He was paid for doing it; it did the crea-
*' tures no harm; and when they died, he
** fliould be paid for burying them." Accord-
ingly the manager compounded the matter
with him, and gave him yearly a caik of
rum worth about £ 8 flerling, in lieu of fur-
plice fees due for burying them. He had
alfo a falary of /20 for vifiting and praying
with the fick, which, without being earned,
he pundtually received. For the baptifms, he
was paid a certain fum.
Some
i6o On the Treatment and
Some of the baptized would mutter, and
fay, they defired not the parfon to throw
water in their face; which is all that they
knew of the matter, and therefore were loth
to fufFer themfelves to be fo dealt with.
In fhort, if merely the making of them parties
to a rite that they underftand not, and in
which they take no adive or rational fhare,
doth initiate them into Chrift's church, then
are they right good Chriflians. But if fome
fhare of knowledge, if fome degree of af-
fent be neceffary to give the minifter's con-
ning over the office of baptifm before them,
fome religious effedt among them, thefe
(laves can pretend to little Chriflianity.
For here the plea of infant- baptifm cannot
be admitted, becaufe neither non-age nor
after- inftrudion can be pretended. In this
manner was unfufpeding piety impofed on,
and fuch formerly were the minifters recom-
mended for the colonies 0
SEC X«
Conversion of African Slaves. i6i
SECT. II.
The Obftacles that the Moravian Miilions
have to fhruggle with.
The Moravians fhew a remarkable and
laudable degree of affiduity in making con-
verts ; and, taking their difficulties into ac-
count, they have had, on the v^^hole, no in-
confiderable fuccefs. Their difciples in
Antigua are about two thoufand in numberj
the fruits of twenty years labour. Several
planters encourage their endeavours among
their people. But fome years ago they re-
ceived a rude fhock from an attempt of a
particular mafler to intrude on them Mr.
Lindfay's tenets, which required their own
lirmnefs, and the aifecflion of their
converts to defeat. There are ufualjy three
miffionaries. They have introduced decency
and fobriety among their people, and no
mean degree of religious knowledge. They
have infant miffions in Barbadoes, St. Chrif-
topher's, and Jamaica. -)-
f Everything here faid concerning the fuccefs of the Mora-
vians, and the good efFefts of it upon the flaves in Antigua,
has been lately confirmed to me by a gentleman who has fpent
many years in that ifland. But he adds, that the number of
iiegroe converts, inllead of 2000, is upwards of 6000.
L They
i62 On the Treatment and
They have made the greateft progrefs lit
the Danifh colonies. In St. Croix they
have fixed a bifliop, with feveral minifters
and catechifts under him. They have chapels
in the different quarters of the ifland. Many
gentlemen have private chapels for their
ufe, and encourage them in their labours.
Government countenances them^ but the
Danifh clergymen in the ifland do not favour
or affift them.
Every evening, except on Saturday, they
have diftind: meetings, by turns, for their
baptized and catechumens. Their hour of
general worlhip is on Sunday evening; the
ilaves being obliged to labour on that day
for their fubfiflence. The converts are
taught to ufe private devotions. When they
go to, and leave off w^ork, they fing in con-
cert a few hymns drawn up in the common
language. Singing makes a confiderable part
of their common worihip.
The mofl: fenfible, of both fexes, are raifed
to the dignity of elders or helpers, to fuper-
intend each the behaviour of their fex, and to
forward the work of inftruftion. When a
brother commits a fault, he is mildly re-
proved in private, or if it be of a public
nature^ before the congregation : if he ob-
ilinately
Conversion of African Slaves. 163
ftinately perfills in the fault, he is, for a
time, deprived of the eucharift, or feparated
from the congregation. This difcipline fel-
dom fails to produce repentance, on v^hich
he is readily re-admitted to the privileges of
the fociety.
In bringing them on in religious know-
ledge, they begin by drawing their attention
particularly to the fufferings and crucifixion
of our Saviour. When this is found to have
made an impreflion on their minds, and
filled their hearts with grateful fentiments,
they then make them connect it with re-
pentance and a good life. Submiffion to their
mafliers, and full obedience to their com-
mands, even to working in the plantation,
when fo ordered, on Sundays, are flrongly
inforced; or rather, they imprefs on them the
neceflity of fubmitting to thofe irregularities
which, in their ftate of fubjed:ion, they can-
not avoid, that their mafters may have no
complaint againft them, while labouring to
gain the great point of general improve-
ment. Their greatefl trouble arifes from the
libidinous behaviour of overfeers among the
female difciples, which, however, fome
mafters check as much as lies in their power.
L 2 The
164 On the Treatment and
The great fecret of the miffionary's ma-
nagement, belides foliciting the grateful at-
tention of their hearers to our Saviour's fuf-
ferings, is to contract an intimacy with them,
to enter into their little intereils, to hear
patiently their doubts and complaints, to
condefcend to their weaknefs and ignorance,
to lead them on llowly and gently, to exhort
them aiFedionately, to avoid carefully magif-
terial threatenings and commands.
The confequences of this method are ob-
ferved to be a confiderable degree of reli-
gious knov^ledge, an orderly behaviour, a
neatnefs in their perfons and clothing, a
fobriety in their carriage, a fenlibility in
their manner, a diligence and faithfulnefs in
their ftations, induilry and method in their
own little matters, an humility and piety
in their converfation, an univerfal unim-
peached honefly in their conduct.
The brethren in Europe are at the expence
of the miffionary's journeys, and contribute
to their maintenance. They have a fmall
plantation in one of the Danifli illands, from
which they draw part of their fupport.
Some of the miffionaries, at their leifure
hours, apply to mechanic employments.
The
Conversion of African Slaves. 165
The reft of their fimple maintenance arifes
from trifling voluntary colledions among
their difciples. Some of them are men of
learning, others Ample well-meaning men.
Their bifhop is a man of plain good fcnfQ and
difcretion.
This account of the Moravians appears,
at firfl: fight, to contradid: my pofition, that
the prefent debafed ftate of flaves favours not
religious improvement. The circumfliances
in their favour are, that they are feen by their
fcholars only as inflruftors or comforters;
that they try to lofe fight of flavery and its
confequences, and fliew their converts to
themfelves only in the light of a religious
fociety; that, as far as the limplicity of
their rites will permit, they draw imagina-
tion to their affiflance, and paint religion
almoil: in fenfible colours.
But it may be obferved, that the authority
of the mafter which they mufl inforce, and the
law of God, which they profefs to teach, mufi:
often draw the hefitating flave different ways,
and fill his mind with doubt, which of the
two is to be obeyed. God fets apart the fabbath
to recruit the body for labour, and improve
the mind for futurity; the mafler, having
L 3 feized
i66 On the Treatment and
fei^ed for himfelf the work for the week^
obliges the flave to toil on that day for his
own maintenance; nay, not unfrequently for
his (the mailer's) avarice. Doubtlefs, how-
ever it may fare with the profane mailer, the
fate of the ilave himfelf is in the beit hands ;
but he can acquire only an inferior kind of
religion, and he muft hold even that at the
caprice of one who, in himfelf, perhaps has
no religion. A mitigation therefore of their
llavery, and a communication of fome fecial
privileges, are ilill a neceifary foundation for
any eminent degree of religious improvement.
SECT.
InefHcacy of the Author's private Attempts to
inflrucfl Slaves.
Though fome individuals may treat their
ilaves with humanity and difcretion, yet we
can give very few inilances of any atten-
tion ihewn to their moral improvement ^ or of
any pains taken to enable them to become
partakers of the gofpel promifes. Religion is
not deemed neceffary to qualify a ilave to an-
fwer any purpofe of fervitude^ and while we
wiih them to be diligent and faithful, we never
think
Conversion OF African Slaves. 167
think of placing a monitor within their
breafts, nor of dired:ing them to look up to
God, as the obferver or rew^arder of inte-
grity. Indeed, in the relation of mafter
and ilave, there is fo little of what is reci-
procal in the duty on one fide and advantage
on the other, that it is hardly poffible to
infufe any other principle than fear into the
mind of a Have, or to make him conlider
himfeif in any other light than that of an
unwilling inftrument of his mailer's tyranny
and grandeur : a condition that leaves him at
liberty to feize every opportunity of making
his fervice of as little ufe as he can to his
mailer, and of making up for the pinching
ill treatment that he receives from him, by
pilfering and purloining whatever lies open
to him.
When the author iiril fettled in the Weil-
Indies, he freely and openly blamed the
careleiTnefs of the inhabitants in a matter of
this importance, and he refolved within him-
feif to ihew how much might be done by
one who was in earneil. His ilaves were well
clothed and plentifully fed; their employ-
ment, which was only the common work of
^ private family, was barely fufhcient for the
L 4 exercife
i68 On the Treatment and
exercife neceflary to preferve their health.
There was more than a fufficient number of
them. In ihort, they were plump, healthy,
and in fpirits. In the evening they were
called in, and made to repeat the creed, the
Lord's prayer, and a few other prayers that
were reckoned beft adapted to them. Their
duty was explained to them in terms let
down, as much as poffible, to their appre-
henfion. Their fears, their hopes, their
gratitude, were all made to intereft them-
felves in the fubjeft. They were not punifh-
ed for one fault in ten that they committed,
and never with feverity. They were carefully
attended when fiek. Nothing was at any time
required of them but what was neceifary,
and much within their ability. But the
treatment may be collefted from this cir-
cumftance; that in eighteen years, though
they had been gradually increaiing by births
and purchafe from ten to twenty in number,
not one had died in his family, except infants
during the period of nurfing. In other re-
fped:s he cannot boaft greatly of his fuccefs.
The firil flave he pofTeiTed was a French
negroe boy, who could tell his beads, and
repeat his Pater-nofter. He was placed out
in
Conversion of African Slaves. 169
in tov^n with a barber: there he formed fuch
acquaintances, and acquired fuch habits of
idlenefs, as made him a moft irreclaimable
run-a-wayj and forced his mafter to difpofe
of him at a lofs of twenty-four pounds
iierling. He hired a fenfible, induitrious,
elderly negroe, who feemed well pleafed
with his fituation, till he found that he was
obliged to attend in the evening at prayers.
He plainly faid, he did not love fuch things,
and that he, a negroe, had nothing to do
with the prayers of white people; and, in
a fhort time, he left his place without af-
iigning any other reafon.
He has been obliged to fend three negroes
off the iiland for theft and running away,
that he might not be under the neceffity of
punifhing with feverity« One of them, a
fenfible accomplifhed negrefs, was returned
on his hands from the Danifli ifland of St.
Croix, for being fuch a thief, that no body
would venture to take her into their family.
Her own account was different. She had
been returned by him, to whom fhe had
been fent down, becaufe his favourite Sul-
tana had become jealous of her attractions.
To the accufations of theft, ilie replied,
that
lyo On the Treatment and
that whatever fhe might formerly have done
in her mailer's family, ihe knev^ better than
to ileal in an ifland, v^here, for taking the
leafl: trifle, fhe might, without noife, have
been taken up, and executed immediately.
She concluded, that her being fent back alive
was a demonftration of her not having been
guilty of theft during her exile. He was
obliged to affe<5t a fatisfaftion in her defence.
And, though by no means faultlefs, ytt^
either from partial reformation, (for fhe was
very capable of reafoning) or an unwilling-
nefs to make another trip from her native
country, fhe continued to behave more care-
fully and attentively in the family 5 and at
lafl became fo induflrious as to be able to
buy out her own, and a daughter's freedom,
that fhe had by a free-man. But he polTefTed
not a fingle flave on whom he could place de-
pendence. And, had it not been for a white
woman, whofe employment was to watch
them, and whofe care he ufed, as others do
correction, to keep them from difhonefly,
he would have been at a lofs how to have
carried on houfe-keeping, without a degree
of feverity abhorrent to his temper. N0W5
while they continued abandoned, irre-
claimable.
Conversion of African Slaves. 171
claimable, and infenfible of good treatment,
they could be very little difpofed to become
Chriftians.
From this unfavourable view of his Haves,
it mufl; not be concluded, that all are ab-
folutely worthlefs. You often meet with
a flave attached to his maimer's interefl,
and in moft refpeds truft-worthy. The
author knows fome that would not lofe, on
comparifon, with the moil circumfped and
faithful fervants in Britain. Slaves, indeed,
are frequently attached to the perfons of
their mailers, and v/ill rilk their lives readily
for them, who yet make very free with their
property. To fpeak generally, thofe mailers
are beil ferved, who feed and clothe their
Haves well, who are themfelves methodical
in their buiinefs, and never take notice of a
fault in them uniefs they mean to corred:
them fmartly for it. T^hey are /// ferved, who
are carelefs in their manner, indifferent how
they are treated, averfe to or irregular in
their method of chaltifement. And can any
behaviour different from this be expedted in
creatures, whofe only motive of action is
prefent feeling, who have no reputation to
fupport, no lafling intcreft to care for ?
The
172 On the Treatment and
The author is fenfible that his want of
fuccefs was, in a certain degree, owing to a
want of ftridnefs in the method of treating
his Haves, adapted to their prefent debafed
ilate. And this arofe equally from his want of
refolution to perfevere in the difagreeable
work, and from the fituation of his family, a
private one, not methodically and conllantly
employed in particular bulinefs. This cir-
cumftance rendered it incapable of being
regulated with the accuracy of a plantation,
where every hour has its employment, and
every piece of work its overfeer. Nor are any
families among us fo well regulated as thofe
conneded with plantations, where method
in corredlion and work makes fome amends
for the want of principle in our manner of
managing Haves. This, at iirft view, may
appear harfh to the humane and pious; but
it is not, therefore, the lefs a true pidure of
human nature; nor, to thofe who are ac-
quainted with the neceffityand efFed:s of dif-
cipline in our army and navy, will it refled:
any particular difgrace on the natural biafs
or capacity of Africans. Human nature,
where-ever found in the fame debafed flate,
would fliew itfelf in the fame worthlefs
manner.
Conversion of African Slaves. 173
manner. Nor is it an argument for ftraiten-
ing, but for relaxing, and at laft entirely
breaking, the chain of flavery.
Mafter and flave are in every refpedl oppo-
fite terms ; the perfons to whom they are
applied, are natural enemies to each other.
Slavery, in the manner and degree that it
exifts in our colonics, could never have been
intended for the focial ftate 5 for it fuppofes
tyranny on one lide, treachery and cunning
on the other. Nor is it neceflary to difcufs
which gives firft occafion to the other. But
as flavery has over-run fo large a portion of
fociety, the beft thing now to be done, is
to prefs its necelTary ftridlnefs of difcipline
into the fervice of freedom. In conformity
to this reafoning, I affirm, that. If ever the
reformation, of which v*^e intend to treat,
takes place, it muft begin in a plantatloriy
where forms, that are the firft traces, the
outlines of rationality can be accurately af-
certained, and conftantly enforced, by perfe-
vering method and difcipline. The mild
and argumentative Solon could regulate the
fprightly, fenfible Athenians; but the rough,
unfeeling Ruffians required a Draco, in their
Peter the Great, to wreft their brutality from
them.
1^4 ^N '^'^^ Treatment and
them. In our cafe, the block muft, in fome
meafure, be chipt in the rude manner of this
laft, before the light touches of the polifher
can take effedl,*
The author cannot, indeed, fatisfy him-
felf with what he has done, and continues
to do, in fpite of difappointment. The
thing, when coniidered by itfelf, appears
fo plaufible, and mild treatment makes, in
his imagination, fo amiable a part of it, that
he is ready to hope, he has only miifed the
right road, and may be more fuccefsful, if
he could flrike out a new plan. Again,
when it is coniidered, how much the ne-
groes are immerfed in fcnfQ, how their in-
tellectual powers are wholly employed in the
* In this, and every other place, where a ftrefs is laid on
forms and difcipline, the reader is defired to dillinguifh be^
tween ftridlnefs and cruelty. What is here fuggefted, is point-
ed at the mailer, more than the flave, and intends nothing
violent or abrupt. If the mailer be exaft, and careful in his
own duty, he will have little reafon to complain of the llave»
Exaftnefs of method prevents faults, and cuts oiF the neceffity
of punilhment. It is the ignorant, the immethodical, the neg-
ligent, the gadding manager, or overfeer, who mull make up
for all his own defefts by ftripes, and cruel ufage to thofe who
ai-e under him. In Chap. I. Seft 7, we gave an inftance of
great ftriftnefs of difcipline, without the ufual proportion of
punilhment. Four times out of five the flave is punilhed
for the overfeer's fault,
fervice
Conversion of African Slaves. 17^
fervice of the body, and that, refpeding
them, WQ have accefs to the firft only by
methods that make impreffion on the other;
when he revolves the difficulty of managing,
by argument alone, a few flaves living and
having their connections among hundreds of
their equals, who are reftrained only by the
whip, every hope of governing them, with^
out certain degree of difcipline, fubfides;
he is reduced to barely wifhing, and praying,
that things were otherwife than he has found
them, after his beft endeavours.
The example and converfation of our
equals, will ever have greater influence on our
behaviour, than the precepts or example of
thofe who are fuppofed to be under other
laws, and to have their lives regulated by
rules different from thofe that v/e think
are appointed for us. And it may be
prefumed, that the eafy treatment which
made part of the author's fcheme, becaufe
moft agreeable to his difpolition, pro-
duced in minds not capable of diiliinguifli-
ing lenity from want of power, that care-
leffnefs to pleafe, and pronenefs to ill beha-
viour, which marked his imall number of
flaves.
This
176 On the Treatment and
This was the cafe of the author's flaves^
and the reafoning about them, as matters
itood in the year 1771. Since the dreadful
hurricane of 1772, which fwept away all their
little flock, there has been fome change for
the better in their general condud:. They
have taken a turn to induilry in their own
little concerns, which has given them a relilh
for property (a turn that fhould always be en-
couraged) and this has had an effed: on their
behaviour. In confequence of this, the
greateft part of them have been admitted to
baptifm, and were not the mafter too fre-
quently obliged to interpofe in matters of
domeftic concern, to check that fpirit of
careleiTnefs and oppofition, which naturally
rifes againfl the views of authority, the
catechifl and teacher might have appeared
to have made fome confiderable progrefs a-
mong them. Though the relaxed difcipline
of the family made them flill rather carelefs
of plealing, yet they kept more at home, and
behaved more honeftly; and while fome
feemed attached through principle, all had
become more decent and orderly than in the
former period.
But
Conversion OF African Slaves. 177
But though they were Haves only in name,
except in the not being at liberty to change
the place of their abode at pleafure, and
though become more manageable than be-
fore, yet the reluctance that run through
and aifeded the fervice of the beft, with
only one exception ; the biafs they had to
the manners and company of the flaves
around them; the neceffity of following them
up in every flep of duty impofed on them,
and of keeping the fear of punishment fuf-
pended over them ; in fhort, the apparent
unealinefs on one fide, and the indifpenfable
miftrufi: on the other, plainly proved that
they had no folid enjoyment of themfelves.
And indeed it was the ftrong feeling he had
of thefe difficulties in the management of
his flaves, which principally contributed to
make the lituation of their mafter moll:
irkfome to him, and to render a ftate of af-
fluence and eafe, (in a fettlement otherwife
as agreeable as imagination can well paint)
fo difguflful, as induced him with eager-
nefs to embrace the firft opportunity that a
generous friendfhip offered, of a retreat in a
country, in which, though lefs favourable
M to
178 On the Treatment and
to his health, and the views of his family,
he could indulge the feelings of benevolence
without regret.
SECT. IV.
Inefficacy of the Author's Public Attempts
to inllrud: Slaves.
On his fir/l fettlement as a minifter in the
Weft-Indies, he made alfo fome public at-
tempts to inftrud: flaves. He began to draw
up fome eafy, plain difcourfes for their in-
ftrudiion. He invited them to attend on
Sundays, at particular hours. He appoint-
ed hours at home, to inftrud: fuch fenfible
flaves as would of themfeives attend. He
repeatedly exhorted their mailers to encour-
age fuch in their attendance. He recom-
mended the French cuftom, of beginning
and ending work by prayer. But incon-
ceivable is the liflleflhefs with which he
was heard, and bitter was the cenfure heap-
ed on him in return. It was quickly fug-
gefted, and generally believed, that he want-
ed to interrupt the work of flaves, to give
them time, forfooth, to fay their prayers 3 that
he
Conversion of African Slaves. 179
he aimed at the making of them Chriftians^
to render them incapable of being good
flaves. In one word, he itood, in opinion,
a rebel convidl againft the interefl: and ma-
jefty of planterfhip. And as the Jews fay,
that in every punifhment, with which they
have been proved, fince the bondage of Egypt,
there has been an ounce of the golden calf
of Horeb ; fo may he fay, that in every
inftance of prejudice (and they have not
been a few) with which, till v^ithin a year
or two of his departure from the country,
he has been exercifed, there has been an
ounce of his fruitlefs attempts to improve
the minds of flaves.
No mafter would ufe any influence with
his flaves, to make them attend at the ap-
pointed hours. Even fome, who approved
of the plan, or at leafl: durfl; not, for
fhame, object to it, and who would have
been offended with the man that fliould
have infinuated their difregard to religion,
did not think themfelves obliged to co-
operate, or encourage their flaves to attend on
infl:ru6tion. Nor did this backwardnefs pro-
ceed from a dread of the ill confequences of
M 2 improve-
i8o On the Treatment and
improvement, but from an indolence in
fuch matters, that cannot be explained to
one unacquainted with the country.
In the bidding prayer, he had inferted a
petition for the converlion of flaves. It was
deemed fo difagreeable a memento, that feve-
ral white people, on account of it, left off
attending divine fervice. He was obliged
to omit the prayer entirely, to try and bring
them back. In fhort, neither were the flaves,
at that time, delirous of being taught, nor
were their mailers inclined to encourage
them. But as this refers to a period about
eighteen years ago, which, in change of in-
habitants, is there equal to a generation,
there is ground to hope that the ancient pre-
judices againft the converfion of the negroes
may, fince that aera, in fome iflands and in
fome plantations be a good deal abated.
SECT.
Conversion OF African Slaves. i8x
SECT. V.
The Manner fuggeiled, in which private At-
tempts on large Plantations, to improve
Slaves, may probably fucceed.
Little, we fee, can be faid of the endea-
vours of individuals, within the author's
knowledge, to improve their Haves. Some
years ago he fcarce knew a man on the fpot,
who had ferioufly attended to their Inflrudtion,
or who believed that interefl, duty, or reputa-
tion, obliged him to attempt it. Nay, though
the more moderate and fenfible people al-
low that the inftrudtion of Haves, if their
prefent condition permitted it, and it could
be brought about, would be a good thing,
yet it is not to be concealed, that fome
have ftrong objcdlions againft every mea-
fure that has their benefit in view, or that
confiders them in any other light than in-
ilruments of labour. An owner will, in-
deed, fometimes have a favourite Have bap-
tized ; but I am not fenfible of any care
having been taken, either before or after,
with one in ten, who are indulged with
the rite, to fee that they be inftrud;ed.
M 3 I was
i82 On the Treatment and
I was once requefled to baptize a negrefs,
remarkable for her faithfulnefs and attach-
ment to her owner's interefl. On examina-
tion, I found her grofsly ignorant, and un-
ufually inattentive. In the ealieft manner
in my power I attempted to inftrud: her,
and as fhe lived in the neighbourhood, bid
her come frequently to me. I fpoke alfo
to her owners, mentioned her ignorance,
and exprefled my readinefs to inftrud; her.
She never attended, was carried into ano-
ther parifh, and there baptized, I had al-
moft faid, without ceremony. Baptifm is
fuppofed to free a Have from the power
of the negroe conjurer, and its being per-
mitted, is conlidered, in the mailer, as the
conferring of a favour, that is complete,
when the rite is performed. The lot of
flaves, refpedting religion, is moft favourable,
when they happen to be prefented young to
a growing up daughter of the family, or to
be the property of induflrious people, jufl
above the loweft rank. In thefe cafes, care
is fometimes taken to fit them for baptifm,
and fome turn out tolerably fober, and fen-
fible; but their proportion to the whole-
can hardly be taken into account.
But
Conversion of African Slaves. 183
But if Haves in their prefent Jlate be ca-
pable of any confiderable improvement, it
will probably be on large plantations, where
they compofe communities of themfelves,
and where the difcipline neceiTary for huma-
nizing them can be carried on with the great-
eft ftrid:nefs and efFed:. In this point of
view is the following plan propofed.
In the lirft place, a chaplain muft be
appointed; and a man of confiderable afli-
duity would find full employment among
the ufual numbers, that extenfive plan-
tations contain of fuch ignorant crea-
tures. If a fober, difcreet man in orders
could be found, who underftood phyfic
enough to enable him to take charge of
their fick, greater encouragement could be
given, and one office would promote the
other. For both, a fingle man fhould be
allowed ^2^0 fterling per annum, the uie
of a horfe and a boy, and board with the
manager. No man, acquainted with the
country, will conlider this appointment as
exceffive, for a man of a liberal education.
The chaplain fliould teach the llaves fome
fliort prayers, to be repeated by them in
M 4 private.
184 On the Treatment and
private, when they rife in the morning, and
when they go to fleep. He Ihould accuftom
them to repeat fome Hiort inftrudive form
refpedling their focial duties, when they begin
and leave off their field work. The black over-
feers, as in the French colonies, may foon
be taught to take the lead in their field de-
votions.
A chapel fliould be built for the perform-
ance of divine fervice on Sunday, for prayers
on the days when their allowance of pro-
vifions is diftributed, foj celebrating the
offices of matrimony and baptifm, and
any other occafion of meeting together. A
burying ground ihould be fet apart for the
decent interment of the dead, and it fhould
be allottecfout according to their families.
It would have an excellent effed; on them,
if only tradable, well-difpofed perfons were
buried with their families, and every worth-
lefs fellow buried in a place apart.
The chapel fhould be built near the hof-
pital, that all, who are under cure, may,
if able, attend fervice. The chaplain fliould
be inftant in inftruding thofe in the hofpi-
tal, that his teaching may interfere the lefs
with
Conversion OF African Slaves. 185
w^ith their ordinary work in health. And as
a coniiderable proportion, on fome account
or other, will be received into the hofpital
within the year, fomething valuable may be?
effed:ed by embracing that opportunity.
By applying particularly to bring forward
the more fenlible and teachable ilaves, he
may enable them in time to affifb him in
the work, and by little rewards, which he
may be allowed to beftow, he may fecure
their help ; but efpecially, he may give the
parents affed:ion a turn to the inftru(5lion
of their children. The great difficulty will
be, to let down the language of religion to
their prefent capacity : a convincing proof
with me, that however llavery may be per-
mitted, yet originally Providence never
defigned any rational, or accountable creature
for fuch a deprefled brutiih ftate, as that
of African ilaves in the Britifh colonics.
But if a few were once well-grounded in re-
ligious knowledge, they could talk more
familiarly and feelingly to their fellows,
than the minifter ; and his chief buiinefs,
except general inftrucflion, would then be
to fuperintend their condud, and excite
then;
i86 On the Treatment and
them to the work. The young children
generally iliew themfelves four or five times
a day in a gang, with fmall parcels of grafs,
picked for the cattle. They may be made
to repeat fome fliort general precept, on de-
livering in their bundles, the moft forward
boy taking the lead.
Sundays are ufually fpent by induflrious
Haves, in their own proviiion grounds. To
give them time for improvement and devo-
tion on that day, they mufl be allowed at
leaft Saturday afternoon for their own work ;
taking care to keep them honeflly employed,
that they may not go robbing, or ftealing,
or get into drunken brawls. Few, at iiril,
could bear fuch indulgence, without flrid
looking after.
As the manager will objedt to a regula-
tion that curtails the working hours of his
people, to induce him to allow the Haves
this time, he mufl: be permitted to make up
for the labour reduced in giving up Satur-
day afternoon to themfelves, by adding gra-
dually to the gang, on a large plantation,
about thirty young negroes. If the owner
fliould, from delicacy, objedt to the buying
of Haves, perhaps the confideration of its
producing
Conversion OF African Slaves. 187
producing a benefit to the whole, may pre-
vail on him. This would be an expence at
firft, but, by increafmg the vigour and in-
duftry of the ilaves, would in time improve
his property greatly beyond their firfl: coft.
And as the flaves might be made to per-
form their own work, under the dired:ion
of the overfeers, their patches of ground
would be better cultivated, and give greater
increafe, than when each is left to work as
he pleafeth. This is on the fuppofition,
that fuch plantations are fully flocked for
the prefent views of the proprietors.
The gang fliould be marfhalled by fami-
lies, each diviiion being put under the care
of the principal perfon in it, who (hould be
anfwerable for their condud:. At ftated
times they fhould pafs in review, be exa-
mined in refped: of health, give an account
of their clothes, and the feveral articles of
their little property. Then fliould follow
an inquiry into their religious progrefs, and
a diHribution of rewards among the moft
diligent, either in getting themfelves, or
their children and fellows forward. Much
would depend on the temper and difcretion
of
i88 On the Treatment and
of the minifler^ much on the hearty con-
currence of the manager.
A large public thatched room fhould be
built, in which to hold their feafts and
merry-makings ; and the man of the great-
eft influence and fobriety among them,
fhould be chofen by themfelves, and ap-
proved of by the manager, to be mafter of
the revels, and keep them harmlefs, and
within bounds. Some folemn a(5l of prayer,
or thankfgiving, fhould begin and end every
afiembly.
No offence, except infolence and difobe-
dience, fhould be punifhed by the manager,
till it has been fubmitted to the decifion
of a jury, chofen from among themfelves.
This would accuftom them to mark the
difference between right and wrong, and at
leaft make confiderate and prudent flaves
ihun faults, which they had condemned in
their neighbour's pracStice. All punifhments
fhould be inflided with folemnity, in pre-
fence of the gang, accompanied with fome
fhort explanation of the crime, and an ex-
hortation from the chaplain, to abftain from
it« Infolence and difobedience are left to
Conversion of African Slaves. 189
be punifhed at the difcretion of the mana-
ger, till the Haves become capable of moral
government, becaufe he would not be able
to fupport his authority, if obliged to fub-
mit the difcuffion of faults committed againft
himfelf, to the decifion of other perfons.
It is difficult to determine what reforma-
tion this example, and the good eiFed:s pro-
duced by this extraordinary care, might
produce in a neighbourhood. But judging
from analogy, we mufl not exped: the fruits
to be of a very quick growth, or very fpread-
ing nature. Thus, for inftance, we know
that interefl pleads equally with humanity,
for the kind treatment of flaves. Every
difcreet man feelingly acknowledges it ;
yet how often, in practice, do thefe
principles feem to be at variance, in fpite
of the moft convincing example which their
union, in men of prudence and fentiment,
can produce ? How frequently may intereft,
or rather her accurfed phantom, felfifhnefs,
be feen dragging a human creature in a
chain, naked, ftarved, and raw with ftripes,
and demanding, with threats, that tale of
labour, which cruelty has rendered the
wretch incapable of performing ?
Now
190 On the Treatment and
Now if example be fo little of a diifufive
nature, in a cafe fuch as this, in which all
confider themfelves as concerned, what may
we exped: to happen in religion, which is
not deemed the concern of any particular
perfon? The lifllefsnefs in fuch matters is
too univerfal j the defire of prefent gain too
general, for any conliderable proportion of
the inhabitants to fall fuddenly and eagerly
into a fcheme, that promifes fo little im-
mediate profit, and feems to be fo very
foreign to their bufinefs, or duty, and fo
far above the capacity of rhe objects of this
improvement.*
Yet
* Among the ancients, not only the fine arts, but fciences
and philofophy, in particular inftances, were cultivated by
flaves. Thefe were therefore immediate objefts of religion
and morality. But their fituation differed greatly from that
of our African flaves. Thefe are favages ravifhed from their
huts, and their country, to till, like brutes, a ftrange foil, in
a ftrange climate, among people of a ftrange fpeech, without
rights, without privileges, without enjoyments. The ancient
flaves were often perfons of condition, deprived of their
freedom by the accidents of war ; or fuch as had been liberally
brought up in their mailer's family, and looked forward to
freedom in his affedlion or gratitude. Thefe once accuftomed
to refleft, purfued their ftudies^ and fearched in philofophy,
or
Conversion of African Slaves. 191
Yet on no account is there reafon to de-
Ipair. Good fenfe would induce the imita-
tion of fome ; religion, awakened by confci-
ence, would exert her influence v/ith others ;
fhame would oblige many, vanity more; th*
natural progrefs of knowledge and reafon
in the human mind, though flow to anfwer
the wifhes of fentiment, would go on gra-
dually to accomplifli the important work.
Even among the fenfible flaves, emulation
would have great effedts. On the whole, the
caufe of humanity and religion would be
ferved. But whatever might be the iffue
with others, were fuch flaves as thefe of
whom we treat, advanced in focial life gra-
dually, as they fhewed themfelves capable
of improvement, nothing could hinder their
mafl:ers from reaping the happieft fruits
from their humanity, piety, and good Cenfe,
They would be more healthy, more vigo-
rous, more diligent, more honeflij they
or religion, for fupport under the miferies of their condition.
In their cafe, no infolent pride in the mafter, of fuppofing
himfelf of an higher race, blocked up the path to their ad-
vancement It is pride with us forms an infeparable bar to
every generous wilh. Emulation is frozen ; expeftation is
dead ; the heavenly fpark lies fmothered in anguifh and neg-
left, while all around is darkncfs and doubt.
would
192 On the Treatment and
would rife in the fcale of being, pofTefs more
of the conveniencies of life, enjoy more hap-
pinefs, and look forward with more confi-
dence into futurity. I have mentioned the
neceffity of making focial privileges, to ac-
company attempts at mental improvement,
becaufe I am perfuaded, that little of confe-
quence can be gained in the laft, without be-
ftowing fomething proportionably conlidera-
ble on the other. But we fhall leave the dif-
cuffion of this point, to make a part of our
particular plan of improvement.*
In
• That particular points may be gained among flaves, in
tKeir prefent ftate, though we have few examples of general
improvement, may be concluded from the following narration.
On a plantation in a tobacco colony, lived fome years ago
a manager, a German, a reduced army officer. He formed
the flaves into a regiment, dividing them into commands, and
appointing officers over them. Their motions were perform-
ed, and their work was regulated by beat of di'um. He
planted armed centinels as in a garrifpn. Offences were tried
as in a court martial, and none were punifhed till their equals
had adjudged them to be guilty. A corporal had defer ted and
carried off his arms. The officer received intelligence of him,
and as it was the firft inftance of defertion, and the offender
had alfo killed one of his companions, it was neceffary to
make a ftriking example of it. The officer went at the head
of an armed party, and furrounded the houfe where the cor-
poral lay hid. It was night, and happened to be moon-light.
The noifc foon brought the deferter out, armed with his mulket.
The
Conversion of African Slaves, 193
In general we affirm, that the mailer, or
legillature, that aims at improvement, or de-
lires to promote good order, mufl keep their
people llridlly to forms, and make the indi-
viduals judges of each other's behaviour.
Breaches of morality may, under proper ge-
neral fandiions, be left to the unbialTed opi-
nions of the people. To direct induftry,
and indifferent habits, to a plan of general
utility and obedience, is the objed; of po-
lice. To carry form and method into pri-
vate life, is the true fecret to impart firm-
nefs, both to law and empire.
It was not the laws of Lycurgus, which
might not be in contemplation once in a
man's life, but it was his ciijiomsy which
The officer, while advancing on him with his mulket prefent-
ed, bid him furrender, and on no account to prefent his piece,
for on the fmalleft attempt he would fhoot him : on the other
hand, he affured him, on his honour, that he fhould have a fair
trial. The corporal hoped to command more favourable terihs
in a pofture of defence, but in attempting to level his piece,
the officer fhot liim dead. He was tried in the provincial courts
for killing the man, and was acquitted. But to fhew his peo-
ple, that he did not make one law for them, and another for
him.felf, he had the caufe formally difcufTed in his own plan-
tation court, and was unanimoufly abfolved. The effcds tliat
would naturally be produced by fuch a difciplinc, enforced by
fuch an example, mult, in things to which it is extended, be
great and lafting.
N met
194 O^ THE Treatment An£)
met the citizen at every meal, that gave (la-
bility to Sparta. The decalogue, and the other
principles of morality, fill a fmall fpace in
the laws of Mofes, and refpedt every other
nation equally with the Jews; but ablutions,
feflivals, and facriiices returned on his peo-
ple, at every hour 5 and they were the infti-
tutes which have principally fecured obedience
to that conftitution through a longer period of
time, than any other fyftem has been able
to effed:. Man is compofed of matter and
intelled: ; and he who would be mafter of
the lafl, muft not neglect the culture of
the other. Our Engli{h laws pafs over the
private conduct of the citizen, to attend to
nuifances, and impofe taxes. Hence that
abfurdity of condud:, that inconfiftency, that
extravagance of behaviour, that mifapplica-
tion of time, and wealth, which prevail
among us, above all others, in private life.
And yet how can the public carry on that
joint purpofe, which is the end of fociety,
or how can it flourifh as a community, when
individuals are left, each man to follow his
own caprice?* In fhort, we have too few
circum-
* To give one inftance out of thoufands of this negleft.
The fate of the nation is fuppofed to be bound up with trade,
yet
Conversion OF African Slaves, 195
circumftances, that bring us together, or
oblige us to confider ourfelves as members
of the fame community. The focial nature
yet is every man permitted to finifh his own manufa£lures, in
his own way, by which the national charadler and interelt fuf-
fcr daily among foreigners. This might be prevented, by
permitting nothing to be exported, till it has endured the fcru-
tiny of proper judges, and had its quality ftampt on it by au^
thority. This negligence, ere this, would have been as fatal
in other branches, as it has already been in the Turkey trade,
but for that emulation which naturally arifes among competi-
tors in the fame branches.
This fyftem, of direfting by authority the private conduft of
citizens, was carried a faulty length by the Jefuits in Paraguay,
There the individual was confidered as a mere inftrument of
public order, and public induftry, without having any thing
permitted to his own feelings, or inclination. And our flaves
fuifer in proportion, as they are under a mafter, who is more
or lefs teafing and difturbing them in their own hours, and
little concerns. But furely, it would not be difficult to ob-
lige, by the regulations of police, a man to be happy in himfelf,
and to add happinefs to thofe around him, by fixing oa the
proper medium in managing him, between carelefsnefs and
inftruftion. The difference is exceeding great in our Haves,
when employed for their mailers and for themfelves. In the
firft cafe, they drawl their talk out, and weep under the bur-
den, liftlefs, and carelefs of fuccefs See them on a Sunday
morning, that only day of liberty, going to market with their
own provifions, they walk ftrong, their faces cheerful, their
bodies ereft, their perfons neat, and the whole man elevated
and improved. Now the police that we recommend above,
makes the man contribute to the general profperity, while he
imagines himfelf wholly taken up inpurfuing his own intereft,
and exerting himfelf in his own bufmefs.
N 2 of
196 On the Treatment and
of our religion has indeed hitherto made up
for many of the other defeats, and prevented
us from feeling their ill confequence. But
in proportion as the notions of Epicurus
become faihionable among us, this tie drops
offalfo, and in all probability, unlefs we ex-
cept our taxes, we Ihall foon have nothing
in common as a people, but the fea that
furrounds our ifle. A defire of pointing
out the way of giving fuccefs to the parti-
cular attempt here recommended, amidfl the
difficulties that furround it, has infenfibly
led to this digreffion.
CHAP,
( 197 )
CHAP. IV.
Natural Capacity of Slaves vindicated.
TO thofe who, with Mofes, believe
that all men had one common pa-
rent, though for wife ends different families
have fince had diftinguifhing marks fixed on
them, the fubjed: of this chapter would be
an unneceffary digreffion. But we are fo
fond of an hypothelis, which indulges pride,
and faves the trouble of inquiry, that the
contrary, though leading to nothing gene-
rous, though narrow, felfifli, and illiberal,
has found powerful advocates, who draw
after them crowds of admirers. Therefore,
before we proceed to claim the rights of
fociety, and of a common religion for Af-
ricans, we muft firft put them in poffeflion
of that humanity, which is pertinacioully
difputed with them. With this view I
N 3 Ihall
198 On tite Treatment ANi>
fhall confider the objedions made to their
capacity, from hypothecs, from figure, from
anatomy, from obfervation, and prove their
natural powers, from reafon and experience.
S E C T. I.
Objedions to African Capacity, drawn from
Philofophy, confidered.
Hume, in his ElTays, broacheth an opi-
nion concerning negroes, which, if true, would
render whatever could be advanced in their
favour, of no account. But I trufl his af-
fertion, which certainly was made without
any competent knowledge of the fubjedr^
will appear to have no foundation, either in
reafon or nature. In his EfTay on National
Charadters, he fays, ** That mankind is com-
** pofed of three or four different races j and
*^ that there never was a polifhed fociety,
*' but of the white race, to which all others
** are naturally inferior," In particular, he
gives it as his forr^ed opinion, *' that there
*^ never arofe a man of genius among ne-
^* ^roes."
Had
Conversion of African Slaves. 199
Had he lived in the days of Auguftus,
or even but a thoufand years ago, his nor-
thern pride, perhaps, would have been lefs
afpiring, and fatisiied to have been admitted
even on a footing of equality with the fable
Africans. Virgil makes Dido inlinuate to
^Eneas, the reafon he had to exped; humane
treatment among her people, not becaufe
they were polifhed Phoenicians, but becaufe
they dwelt more immediately than other
powers under the powerful influence of the
fun. And in the time of Charlemagne, a
foreign divine, writing to the Britons to
encourage them, tells them, as a thing re-
markable, that though their country lay far
** north, yet it had produced feveral great
** men." Suppofing thefe, and Hume's ob-f
fervations, (if indeed thefe deferve the name)
to have been drawn equally from fa6t, th^
conclufion is, that arts, fciences, and the
polifhed life accompanying them, are flow-
ly progreffive through nations and climates,
rather than that the natives of any parti-
cular country are born incapable of them
in their turn, as if intended to ad: an in-
ferior part in the moral world,
N 4 Again^
200 On the Treatment and
Again, in his Natural Hiftory of Religion,
he affirms, that if a traveller found a peo-
ple void of religion, he would find them
removed but few^ degrees from brutes. -f- He
fays, " In the progrefs of human thought,
'* the ignorant multitude muft iirft entertain
** fome grovelling familiar notion of fuperior
** powers, before they ftretch their concep-
** tions to that perfect Being, who beftowed
** order on the frame of nature/' J " to be-
** lieve,"
f Yet, why, if fuch be the man's genuine fentiments, did
he ftrive, in all his writings, to difgrace religion, and deftroy
every moral fentiment connefted with it among his country-
men ? I will not fay what name fuch cool malevolence de-
ferves, but, on the other hand, let not his friends pretend
to exalt the author of fuch peftilential tenets above every
human charafter.
X This is with a view to eftablifli his favourite pofition, that
polytheifm was the firft religion : becaufe, he there fays,
*' Man could not poffibly have degenerated from pure theifm
" to polytheifm ; and yet, we know, that polytheifm has
*' prevailed." But, forgetting this impoffibility of degene-
racy, in order to fliew the little confequence of religion in
general, and, as he humanely and refpeftfully obferves, to fet
the religious fefts a wrangling, while he and a few more
choice fpirits are making their efcape into the calm regions of
philofophy; he afterwards tells us, that man changes continu-
ally from polytheifm to theifm, and from theifm to poly-
theifm ; and, in his opinion, it is a matter of no confequence.
But confiftency in the apoftle of infidelity is as little neceffary,
SIS
Conversion of African Slaves. 201
** lieve," faith he, *' inviiible, intelligent
** power, is a ftamp fet by the divine Work-
** man on human nature. Nothing dignifies
** man more than to be feleded from all the
** other parts of the creation to bear this
'* image of the univerfal Creator." Here,
then, we have religion for a badge of excel-
lence or reafon, and the want of it a mark
of inferiority or brutality. Speaking of the
white or fuperior race, he goes on to affirm,
that the bulk of mankind is incapable of
being directed by the tenets of pure theifm^
that all popular religions, in the conception
of their more vulgar votaries, are, therefore,
a fpecies of demoniafm -, and that religious
principles, as they have prevailed in the
world, are only fick mens dreams.
Now, if we aiTume, as we juftly may,
that a perfedion to be found very feldom
in a fuperior race, cannot be expected in-
any inftance in an inferior race; according
to him, we {hall in vain look among negroes
for what is rare even in the white race.
as in the lives of thofe for whom the doftrine is calculated.
There is, indeed, fomething fo degrading in all Hume's phi-
lofophy, as can recommend it only to a corrupt heart, and
a vitiated underflanding, which fee nothing to wifh for, or ex-
cite their emulation, out of the circle of animal indulgencies.
Here
202 On the Treatment and
Here and there we fee a man fix feet in Ma-
ture* but were there fuch a nation as Fabu-
lifls defcribe pigmies to be, would a travel-
ler exped to find a pigmy fix feet tall ? In
fuppofing a diftindion, we deny to the in-
ferior every mark of excellency that diilin-
guifhes one individual of the fuperior race
from his fellows. If, then, his fuppofition
be juft, it follows that negroes are not in-
tended for religion. For, whatever be his
private fentiments of revealed religion, he
muft allow it to be a fpecies of general re-
ligion ; and he admits the reception of religion
to be a perfedlion in the fuperior race, an
advancement of their nature, that few in com^
parifon of the whole do really attain unto.
He alfoallows thatChriftianity contains many
of the fublime truths of theifm, which, accord-
ing to his opinion, no fociety, even of white
men, ever yet lived up to. It would then be
abfurd to expeft that negroes, an inferior race,
ihould be capable of an excellence, even in
that lefs degree, fuppofed to be contained in
Chriflianity, tq which a great proportion of
the fuperior race^ I will not fay cani^ota bVit
do nota attain.
But
Conversion of African Slaves. 203
But there is fomething in a v^ell-difpofed
mind, that makes the man revolt againfl
this cruel opinion : and, I trujfl:, nature flatly
contradidts the alTertion. As far as I
can judge, there is no difference betv^^een
the intelled:s of whites and blacks, but
fuch as circumflances and education natu-
rally produce.
It is true, there are marks, that appear now
to be eftablifhed, as if fet by the hand of
nature to diftinguifh them from the whites:
their nofes are flat, their chins prominent,
their hair woolly, their fkin black. They
who, from Mofes believe (and, fince, on
any fcheme we mufl: come to a particular
time when the difliindlion took place, it is,
to fay no more, juft as fenfible as any other
pofition) that the Deity parcelled out the
earth into families and languages, may con-
clude, that thefe difl;in(flions gradually took
place at the period in which the fons of men
were conduced by the invilible hand of Pro-
vidence each to his allotted habitation. And,
let it be remarked, that the charad:erifl:ics of
negroes {hew themfelves chiefly about the
face, where nature has fixed both the national
attri"
204 On the Treatment and
attributes and the difcriminating features of
individuals, as if intended to diftinguifh them
from other families, and bind them in thefocial
tie with their brethren. But their tongues
are as muiicalj-f- their hands as elegant and
apt, their limbs as neatly turned, and their
bodies as well formed for flrength and ac-
tivity as thofe of the white race.
After firft writing the above, I was for a
fhort time made happy, by finding that
Lord Kaims, in his firft volume of Sketches,
had indulged the fuppofition, that at the dif-
perlion, on the confuiion of languages,
when the earth was divided among Noah's
poflerity, national attributes firil took place
in the feveral families, in the feveral climates.
But this fatisfadiion continued only till I
f It is furprizing, that during the continued rage for
Italian fingers, it has never entered among the whims of the
age, to try if mufic might not be imported from the Banks of
the Niger. It is certain the natural tafte of the Africans for
mufic is confideraljle; and inftruftion and affiduity might
change mungo's filly ftage gihberifh into the foft thrills and
quavers of Italian eunuchs. By the way, how would it have
hurt the pride of an overweening Hume among the Romans,
to have been told, that the time would come when his fons
fhould be emafculated to fit them for entertaining on a ftage
the barbarous Britons with effeminate mufic ?
entered
Conversion of African Slaves. 205
entered on the perufal of the fecond volume:
where it is affirmed, that the inhabitants of
America have an origin diftind: from the
natives of the eaftern hemifphere. We fliall,
therefore, confider thefe opinions together. J
That
J In a late well-known Hiflory of America there is room to
imagine, that the author entertains the fame opinion with Lord
Kaims. He guards it, indeed, by faying, that we Ihould be
apt to believe the Americans had a different origin, if the
fcriptures did not allure us that mankind fprung from one
ilock. The doftor did not refleft that many of his readers had
not the fame opinion of the fcriptures as he entertained ; and
that his conjefture, as an hiftorian, would weigh more with
them, than his faith as a Chriftian. He, probably, threw it
out as a fpeculative opinion, without attending to the in-
human confequences deduced from it, andcertainly he grounds
it on very controvertible data. When he acknowledged the
apparent difference, he Ihould have been aware of the fcep-
ticifm of the age, and guarded againfl: the conclufions that
would eagerly be drawn from it.
Indeed, the friends of virtue have feldom been fufficiently
careful in this refpe£l. Before any fpeculative opinion be
given to the world, a man fhould turn it in his mind every
poffible way, to confider to what ufes it may be wreftcd by
infidelity, when brought out under the fandlion of his name.
A profeffed enemy of virtue mull be placed in particular
ciixumftances to be able to do much harm in the world by his
writings ; but every reverie of an eminent good man is eagerly
feized on, if it can be turned to promote the purpofes of pro-
fligacy. Would Locke, even in the eagernefs of difputation,
have hazarded that wild conjecture, that poffibly matter might
think, could he have forefeen that it would have ellablifhed
him
go6 On the Treatment ani5
That without the information afforded by
facred hiftory, and without an attention to
that extenfive plan of divine oeconomy which
it opens to us, we fhould, at liril light,
imagine the feveral families inhabiting the
earth to have had diftindt progenitors, I
readily acknowledge. But, iince a hiflory
confiilent in itfelf, uncontradidled by autho-
rity, agreeing in analogy with the pall and
prefent Hate of things, and fupported by
every pollible collateral evidence of hillory,
tradition, national manners, and cuftoms,
alTures us that men had one common anceftor,
that at a period, when men had become nu-
merous, profligate, and daring, their Crea-
tor, to punilh their rebellion, and, (con-
formably to that divine benevolence which
conllantly brings good out of evil) to make
it inftrumental in advancing fociety, and the
more equal and fpeedy cultivation of the
earth, divided them into families and lan-
guages, giving to each diftind: features, and
a feparate fpeech : this, I fay, being the cafe,
we are not left at liberty to purfue every
him as a main pillar of materialifm, and made him anfwerable
for all its dreary confequences. In arguing, as in wreftling,
we are not fo careful to preferve ourfejlves from falling, a$
anxious to throw oar adverfary»
wjld
Conversion' OF African Slaves. 207
wild conjedlure. Both methods, at firft,
were equally eafy to fupreme power; both,
at iiril, flood equally in need of an extraor-
dinary volition or exertion of Omnipotence.
But we can obferve a peculiar propriety
in chooling the latter. By giving man one
fimple origin, by beflowing on him a com-
mon nature, a foundation was laid for the
ultimate re-union of mankind, as well now
in improved focial life as in futurity; a
re-union intended to take place in time under
the then-promifed connediing head of the
creation, and particularly rendered prad:ica-
ble in a unity of laws, government, and
worfhip, by this univerfal equality eflablifli-
ed among the various families; which keeps
the way open for the equal and gradual im-
provement of their common nature. This
is the fyftem taught by revelation : it is a
plan that reafon readily acknowledges, and
benevolence chearfully adopts ; it gives a
grand, a flattering, and the only conliftent
view of mankind, as having for its author
the God of univerfal nature. He, who
once has entertained it, muft defpife the
conjedlures of philofophy, and the paradoxes
of infidelity. And furely it fliould gain for
that
2o8 On the Treatment and
that revelation which difcovers it a favour-
able, even an interefled, hearing, equally
from the politician and the philanthropifl:, as
encouraging the noblefl and warmeft vi^iflies
that refped: fociety or man.
All here is confiilent and analogical. In
certain attributes and qualities, in the m.ental
powers, all mankind agree. The feveral
families or fuppofed races have various marks,
connecting them with each other, and dif-
tinguilhing them from the reft. The nations
into which each race is divided, with the
common attributes of the race, have lefs ap-
parent, yet ftill fufficient marks to diftinguifh
them from others, and conned: them toge-
ther. Generally fpeaking, even inhabitants
of provinces have a common run of man-
ners, language, or features, perhaps of all
taken together, to bind them in fome degree
of union, and alfo diftinguifh them. After
thefe, domeftic likenefles take place, that have
ftill more intimate common marks, yet allow
of a fufficient variety to know a man from
his brother.
Now, in the eye of true philofophy, the
diftinguifhing attributes of the individual,
an hair more or lefs of this or that colour,
a par-
Conversion of African Slaves. 209
a particular feature predominant, have as
certain a diHind: caufe in nature, as what
makes the difference between the faireft Eu-
ropean and moft jetty African. If, there-
fore, we can refolve the difcriminating attri-
butes of individuals into the neceffary final
caufe of focial intercourfe, why hefitate we
in afcribing to the fame caufe the more ob-
vious diftindions of the greater families?
Or, why feek for caufes lefs confident, ap-
parently lefs worthy of the Deity, to pamper
vanity and pride, when this is full and fuf-
ficient to explain the fatt ?
For the period v^dien this diftin(flion took
place, and the plan of reformation to which
it looked, we are referred by Mofes to the
confufion of Babel, " When the Moft High
** divided to the nations their inheritance;
** when he feparated the fons of Adam; when
" he fet the bounds of the people according
** to the number of the children of Ifraeh"
a family, that, in the courfe of Providence,
was feparated, and, when thefulnefs of time
came, was employed, to inftrudt the world
in that common relation to their Creator
and to each other, which had been entangled
in error, disfigured by fable, and perverted
O by
2IO On the Treatment anj>
hy fidion : for this office the Jews were well
calculated; their turn for commerce made
them wander and mix with, while their cuf-
toms kept them diflindt from^ other nations.
They were a(5luated with zeal for the unity
of the Deity, and Ihewed a wonderful pa-
tience under perfecution.-f*
SECT.
f It is remarkable of Philo, the Jew Platonift, that though
he gives no hint of his knowledge of Chrillianity, which alone
explains and vindicates the Jewilh law, and points out its
defign ; yet, with Chriftians and Platonifts, he fuppofeth the
world to be the immediate work, and under the particular
government of the Demiurgos, or word, and he affirms the
reparation of the Jews to have had the gradual improvement of
mankind in view..
In fpite of the obligations that the world in general owes to
the Jews, refpefting theology and morality, yet fo fafhionable
is it for every author, in imitation of Voltaire, to go out of his
way to abufe them, that he who expreffes a regard for them
expofes himfelf to contempt. But thofe who deny them the
privileges of a particular difpenfation, in fo doing exalt them
above all nations of antiquity. For they alone had penetra-
tion to find out, and piety to worlhip, the univerfal Creator.
The Roman twelve tables were a colleftion from all the Greek
inftitutes ; how contemptible are they compared with the
decalogue ! That anciently the Jews were not the defpifed
people which modern infidelity would fain reprefent them,
appears clearly from the alliances formed by them, and the im-
munities and privileges granted them under the Perfians,
Grecians, and Romans. The farcafm of Auguftus on them,
may be accounted for from their being the only province that
refu fed
Conversion OF African Slaves. 211
S E C T. II.
Objed:ions to African Capacity, drawn,
from Form, confidered.
The marks that diftinguifh the African,
and give room to the tyrannic European (for
I believe the Afiatic mailer is content with
the pre- eminence that power imparts) to claim'
the highefl place, are, as I before obferved,
rcfufed to make him a God. The fneering of the Roman
poets is, in the cafe of a conquered nation, but a poor proof
of a matter of fa6l. B ut thefe cavillers have not refiefted that
the hiftory of the Jews, from which their abufc is drawn,
confiders them wholly as objefts of morality and religion,
under the immediate government of the Lord Jehovah, not
with other hiilories as a Itate rifing and falling in the fcale of
opulence. Take the moil virtuous people of this, or any
ancient period, and meafure their manners by the perfeft law
of God, and will they ftand in a more amiable or praife-
worthy light than thefe defpifcd out-cafts ? Doth Jeremiah
paint the depravity of his people in ftronger lines than honeft
Latimer doth that of his age, though the period of reformation ?
Would Latimer foften his Ilile, were he to return among us?
Farther, to be abufed is a fign of oppofition and emulation
rather than of inferiority. Why, among the various nations
that inhabit the Britilh ifles, is one alone abufed by their
wealthier neighbours, but becaufe it treads moft clofely at their
heels? Had not the Jews made a diftinguilhed figure in the
Roman Empire, the triumph that celebrated their conquell
would have clofed the account of them as a people.
O 2 flat
212 On the Treatment and
iiat nofes, prominent chins, woolly hair,
black fkinsj to which the curious anatomift
adds fkulls lefs capacious, calves of the legs
lefs fiefhy, and elevated more towards the
hams. Now, allowing all thefe, we want
a link to connedl them with inferiority. Lefs
capacious ikulls, indeed, will at once be
deemed conclufive againfl: us; but has the
rule been applied, and is it found agreeable
to obfervation in common life ?
We know that climate, diet, and the
various modes of life have great pov/er over
the features, form, and ftature of man.
Weft Indian children, educated in England,
improve not only in complexion, but in ele-
gance of features : an alteration ariling, per-
haps, equally from change of climate, of
diet, and of education. We fee fimilarity of
features run through particular families.
Shall we, therefore, be able to tell which
carries the eniigns of genius; which bears
the impreffion of wifdom, the proper foun-
dation of power. On this fuppofition, he-
reditary indefeafible right in Kings would
not be a fubjed: of ridicule, but of grave
difcuffion. We need only to diftinguifli ac-
curately the ftamp of royalty to put ourfelves
under
Conversion OF African Slaves. 213
under the beft poffible government. Were
this allowedj we could no longer laugh at
the Egyptians for pretending to be able to
call out their God Apis from amidll herds
of common oxen. We fee fets of national
features independent of colour. We fee
colour gradually verging from white to
black, through every intermediate degree of
tawny and copper. We fee genius fporting
in various forms, tall in Newton, bulky in
Hume, llender in Voltaire, diminutive and
deformed in Pope. Where fhall we fix the
claim of genius ? how purfue it through all
the diverfity of human form ? Or, were we
to attempt it, and infolently place ourfelves,
or our tribe, in the highefl rank, would not
History dafli the vain garland from our
brow ? Would it not tell us that arts, fcien-
ces, and the immediate capacity for them,
arc progreffive in their nature and objedts,
vifiting fometimes this region, fometimes
another ?
Again, of the fame fociety, of the fame
family, fome men are fmooth, fome hairy,
fomc tall, fome fhort, fome fair, fome brown.
But as thefe peculiarities are indifcriminately
diflributed among individuals, otherwife
O 3 eq[ual
214 On the Treatment and
equal, no body thinks of applying a rule to
meafure the difFerence, or of afcribing to
each its allotted fliare of mental powers.
Yet the moil minute difference, a ihade
more or lefs, of this or that colour, mufl
have as diftinft a caufe to produce it, as
what divides a man from a monkey. And
Mr. Hume, becaufe a tall bulky man, and
alfo a fubtile philofopher, might have de-
nied a capacity for metaphyseal fubtilty
to all v^ho v^^anted thefe his great bodily at-
tributes, as well as fuppofe capacity and
vigour of mind incompatible with a flat
nofe, curling hair, and a black ikin.
It is faid of negroes, that their brain is
blacklfh, and the glandula pinealis wholly
black; a remark of which the Cartefian,
with his audience-hall of perception, might
make much. It has not come within my
notice; nor on the principles of common
fenfe can any thing be inferred from it, un-
lefs anatomy had alfo determined that the
jaundice affeds not thefe parts, as a proof that
this blacknefs arifes not from the colour of
the ikin. But it is obferved that their blood
is of a dark red. This may be accounted for
from their poor fait diet, and their working
naked
Conversion OF African Slaves. 21 §
naked in the fun; and this colour in the
blood may contribute to thefe appearances
in the brain, while running through the ca-
pillary veiTels that are fpread over every vilible
part of it.
The Ikin takes its colour from a gelatinous
fubflance, placed between the fcarf and the
proper fkin : this fubftance approaches to
jet black in proportion as the place of their
nativity lies near the equator. In bad health,
it equally, with the northern white, in the
fame circumftances, changes into a lickly
yellow. Is not colour a precarious founda-
tion for genius, feeing, in one view, we
may fuppofe it to reduce the parts of a lick
white man, in another to increafe thofe of a
lick negroe, by bringing both nearer to a
ratio of equality.
Perhaps an enquiry into the nature of
freckles in fair complexioned people might
throw fome light on the blacknefs of the
African. The feat of their blacknefs and of
freckles is the fame; and they appear to be
allied in nature, being both, probably, a
fecretion, and coagulation from the capillary
velTels, brought about in particular circum-
ftances by the miniflry of the weather and
O 4 fun :.
2i6 On the Treatment and
fun : for negroe children are born white, and
the weather and fun caufe freckles. When,
therefore, we can account for the pre-dif-
poling caufe of freckles in particular perfons,
we fhall know fomething of black fkins : for
a freckle may be defined a partial black Ikin^
a black ikin an univerfal freckle. It may-
be an help in the inquiry to remark, that a
difpoiition to be freckled and ilrong red
curling hair generally go together : as in
this light, a black colour may be deemed
the effed: of weather on a delicate fkin^ and
freckles as a iimilar eiTed: on ikins of a
coarfer, though not the coarfeft grain. It
would be curious to obferve, among one's
acquaintances, if their parts were in the in-
verfe proportion of the finenefs of their
fkins ^ or if a much freckled fkin, with its
curling hair, as approaching to black, be a
lign of the owner's fhupidity or dulnefs.
In northern climates men have long hair,
and iheep have wool ; in fouthern climates
fheep have hair, and Africans v/oolly heads.
In time we may be able to account for both
without bringing genius into queilion. The
flat nofes of negroes, in many cafes, may be
accounted for from the cuilom of being con-
ilantly
Conversion OF African Slaves. 217
ftantly tied on their mothers backs virhen
infants, and nature has prepared them for
this, by fhortening the cartilage of the nofe.
Sometimes they are procured, as an agree-
able feature, by violence. In general they
are a national feature, like the high cheek
bones of the Scotch. Calves, fwelling lit-
tle, and placed high, are frequent, but not
univerfal, or even general, in the legs of
negroes -, nor feem they to prevail much
more among them, efpecially among Creoles,
than among the Creole whites, v^ho are ori-
ginally from Europe. Some negroes have
legs, that in clumiinefs and lov^^nefs of
calves, may vie v/ith an Iridi porter. The
fame may be affirmed of the prominent chin :
it is frequent, not general ; a convex face
is not a rare fight among them. If, there-
fore, an oblongated, or concave face be, as
is fuppofed, conned:ed with a fmall cere-
bellum, it is not their general attribute.
On the other hand, I have amufed myfelf
with obferving, that fome of the moft im-
proved of my acquaintances may be remark-
ed for prominence of chin.
Whether thefe diftinguifhing marks of
negroes were, as we have fuppofed, fixed
by
2i8 On the Treatment and
hy the Author of nature, as part of that
plan of particular fociety, and future re-
union, that began with the race of man,
whether caufed by climate, or given to ena-
ble them to bear the fervours of the torrid
zone, or whether all thefe caufes have co-
operated, while v/e conclude not on our
fuperiority over them, is matter of innocent
difputation. Of the lafl-mentioned caufe
it is certain, that though they work naked
in the hottefi; hours, their ikin never blift-
ers, while vagabond white failors blifter
wherever the fun reaches them ; and that
they enjoy hot dry weather, while moiflure
and cold make them fhiver, and crouch
down helplefs and fpent. On the whole,
our obfervations are not of that length of
time, and accuracy of manner, on which to
build the fond opinion of northern fuperio-
rity ; and reafon and revelation forbid the
haughty thought. Suppoling the general fu-
periority of Europe over the natives of the
torrid zone, while we argue from thefe prin-
ciples, how Ihall we account for the Mexi-
cans being lefs black, and more civilized
within the equatorial girdle, than the Cali-
fornians, inhabiting the region of genius,
and
Conversion OF African Slaves. 219
and white fkins ? or, according to the author
of the obfervation, " how can improved fo-
** ciety change an apparent law of nature?"
Shall we fuppofe the equatorial circle to
have been originally allotted to the black
race, and that they have been expelled from
all parts of it, except Africa ?
SECT. III.
Objections to African Capacity, drawn from
Anatomy, confidered.
We have gone through the feveral par-
ticulars, in which negroes vilibly differ from
white men, and find, that fhould they even
mark a different race, they can in no refped:
determine their inferiority. We come now
to confider, what may be indicated from di-
minutive ikulls.
A gentleman, juflly celebrated for his
accuracy in the courfe of his anatomi-
cal refearches, has difcovered a furprizing
difference between European and African
ikulls. This fuggefted to him the idea
of drawing out a feries of heads in this
gradation ; European, African, monkey,
dog. The difference between the two firfl,
is
220 On the Treatment and
is indeed ftriking; the European, by the
fwelling out of the hinder part of the fkull,
fupporting itfelf fo as to fhew the face al-
moft perpendicular to the table on which it
is placed, while the African, for want of
fuch fupport, recedes from the perpendicu-
lar, and fhews an obvious elongation of the
lower jaw. The ufe that he has made of
the difcovery, has been the claffing of the
nations by their attributes, without taking
genius into account. He rather throws it
out, but only as a conjecSture, that negroes
might have been the originals of mankind,
he having obferved, that in all birds and
beafls, the originals, whence the tame forts
are derived, are black, and that every varia-=
tion from them approaches more or lefs to
white.
Other men, lefs modeft, have drawn from
the obfervation, the conclufion of inferiority;
it therefore will be necelTary to pay a par-
ticular attention to it, or rather to their de-
duction from it. And we fhall firft obferve,
fuppofmg this diftindtion real, that it mufi:
have fome benevolent and general purpofe;
which purpofe we fhould fearch for, and
follow out j which purpofe we know is ^not
to
Conversion of African Slaves. 221
to feed pride, or indulge cruelty, as thefe
notions at prefent do. Matter of fad:, or
the real agency of nature, wherever difco-
vered, may be alTumed for the foundation of
our reafoning ; nor fhould We vainly ima*
gine that fhe ftands in need of our feigned
apology, or wants to lie concealed behind
the flimfy texture of our conje(5tures. We
may be unacquainted with her workings, or
with the particular purpofe that (he means
to carry on. But we need not therefore fear,
left what comes from her hands be found
fraught v/ith abfurdity, or lead to princi-
ples deftrudtive of humanity, or derogatory
to wifdom and goodnefs. Let then the fad:
be, that negroes are an inferior race; it is
a conclulion, that hitherto has lain hid and
unobferved, and while it leads only to an
abufe of power in the fuperior race, it is
better concealed, than drawn out into no-
tice. Perhaps Providence may keep it
doubtful, till men be fo far improved, as not
to make an ill ufe of the difcovery. I am
fure, at prefent, the power, if it be a right,
is delegated to many improper perfons. In
the mean time, while the fuperior race con-
tinues likely to abufe it, every ftep that leads
to
222 On the Treatment anb
to the eflabllfhment of a point, the good
purpofe of which lies hid, while the evil
purpofe is ready at hand, fhould undergo
and iland the feverefl: fcrutiny before it re-
ceives our approbation.
1 . In this cafe it muft be eftabliflied as a
maxim, that except in cafes of idiotifm, or
accidental ill conformation, the rational pow-
ers are in proportion dired:ly as the quan-
tity of brains. And hence it will follow, that
with the foregoing exceptions, we may, a-
mong Europeans, bring genius to actual
admeafurement, and determine its degrees
by the fize of the poffefTor's head, juft as an
excifcman gauges a beer barrel. How muck
of thofe wranglings, that render us contempt-
ible in the eyes of all Europe, fhould we
fave in both houfes, if our competitors for
power, inflead of wafting the nation's time
in a war of words, fliould each fubmit his
head to this limple trial of its capacity ?
2. In the fecond place, this difference
muft be univerfal, without a iingle excep-
tion, unlefs as above. For, as we have clear-
ly proved, there muft always be a degree of
excellence to diftinguifh the loweft of the
fuperior order, from the higheft of the in-
ff 5< ferior.
Conversion of African Slaves. 223
ferior. And this, it feems, in the cafe of
the fkull, is a(5tually determined by the fame
gentleman againfl: the fuppofition ; for there
is in his polTeffion an European fkull of the
fame proportion as his African. In con-
firmation, I may fay, that I know many in-
ftances, v^^here the African excels indivi-
dual Europeans, in the exercife of the rea-
foning faculties.
3. That brains and reafon are conflantly
in a direcfl ratio, vv^ill be difputed in deter-
mining betv^^een the dog and monkey. I have
heard much of monkeys j I have had op-
portunities of obferving them j but nothing
has led me to conclude, that they are equal,
far lefs fuperior, in reafon ing and fagacity,
to that humble friend of man, the faithful
dog : certainly they are not fo teachable, nor
fo capable of being attached by good offices,
or gratitude. While on this head, v^e may
obferve, that naturalifls fuppofe every vari-
ous fpecies of dog to come from the fhep-
herd's cur ; yet their fhapes and qualities
differ more fenfibly, than does the African
from the European.
4, Another fad. to be eflabliflied is, that
the difcriminating fize of the African fkull,
and
224 ^^ '^"^ Treatment and
and confequent inferiority of reafoning, con-
tinue in the fixed civilized generations, and
that, after no given period, do they ap-
proach to European capacity. But allow-
ing the difference to be at firfl real, I canj
from obfervation, deny its continuance a-
mong Creole negroes.
Suppofmg the difl:ind:ion to be found
among the wilder tribes, we may^ well ac-
count for it in the following manner.
Among favages, the powers of the mind are
confined to few cbjedts; and though their
acutenefs refpedling them, in particular cafes,
may exceed what can be imagined in polilli-
ed life, yet certain it is, that we have few
well atteflcd inilances of the capacity of
favages, in attaining the various accomplifh-
ments, and abftradt notions, to be found in
common among a civilized people. Their
want of words in their native tongue, to ex-
prefs, or com^municate their ideas, would
be a fufficient bar. And this may be one
great caufe why, in North-America, the
children of favages, after having been edu-
cated in the European manner, and taught
to read and write, generally feize the firfl:
opportunity of returning to the rude cuftoms
of
Conversion of African Slaves. 225
of their fathers. Now we can perceive a
gracious defign in what Providence denies,
as well as in what it beflows. A man capa-
ble of varied knowledge, and verfatile exer-
tion, in a fituation where he had few or no
objed:s to work on, would be unhappy in
himfelf, and a curfe to all around him.*
His defire, and power of exertion, are there-
fore confined within his opportunities and
means of employment ; and we have only
to try, and difcover the manner, in which
nature has contrived to fit him for his rank.
In doing this, we will confider the differ-
ence between the fkuU and the reafon of an
African, and thofe of an European, as an
eflablifhed fad;, from which we are to
reafon.
Suppofe then an African, in his favage
ftate, to have lefs brains, and in confequence
lefs reafon, yet ftill a fufiiciency for his fitua-
tion ; the queflion then is, whether his head,
his brains, and his reafon, would not expand
in the fucceflive generations of civilized life.
We know, that independent o£ the imme-
* What fad v/ork would the authors of our prefent new
fyftems in philofophy, religion, and government, make among
the fimplc Chicjucfavvsor Algonquins.
P diate
226 On the Treatment and
diate organs of generation, the female, even
in parts exadlly fimilar to thofe in the male,
is particularly adapted to the bearing, bring-
ing, and fuckling of children. Now the way
of life, and the degree of exercife, that the
female has ufed from her birth, may either
check, or favour her conftrud:ion as a mo-
ther. In the favage fhate, where hunting
is the chief means of fubfiftence, food
muft be fcanty, and only to be procured by
patience and exertion. Savages therefore,
both male and female, will be found lean,
dry, mufcular. And this condition will par-
ticularly afFed: the female, becaufe in al-
moft every favage tribe, flie is coniidered
as a flave, intended to labour for, and ferve
her hulband. Will not thefe circumilances,
her fcanty diet, and violent exercife, affed:
the conformation of her body, and render the
few children whom jfhe brings forth, lean,
flender, their heads fmaller, more elongated,
the brain of a drier, lefs elegant texture,
jufl: capable of that degree of intelligence
which the favage ftate requires ? And may
we not aik. Is not this, in a certain degree,
found to be the cafe of fuch women among
us, as are habituated to hard labour ? Child-
ren
Conversion of African Slaves. 227
ren of the loweft peafants, I believe, are as
feldom found to take an high flation in
literature, as in elegance of form. The mid-
dle ranks of life, that fupply conveniences to
foften, not luxuries to drown nature, are
moil favourable to elegance of form and
acutenefs of underflanding. Fifliermen's
waives, in the north of Scotland, labour
more hardly than any other women in Britain;
and their neighbours look dov/n with con-
tempt on the flupidity and ignorance found
in the fiiliing villages. Hence may be ac-
counted for the care taken by the ancient
Bramins to regulate the diet, exercife, and
paffions of their pregnant women.
But fuppofe favages to be fo far civilized,
as to be fixed in their habitations, to be well
clothed, and properly fedj fuppofe their
women treated with the regard that wdmen
generally receive in polifhed life, eafed of
labour, employed only in regulating their
family, or fupported in idlenefs, or amufe-
ment. Would not their bodies expand, and
the fexual qualities attain an higher perfec-
tion ? Would not the embryo be better
nourifhed, the tender texture of the brain
be lefs injured, than when the pregnant wo-
P 2 man
228 On the Treatment and
man ufed fcanty nourifhment, and violent
exercife ? Would not the children be brought
forth more plump ? Would not the brain,
favoured in its growth, force the fkull to take
its natural fpherical form, and, according to
our hypothefis, make the man more capable
of improvement ? And, this, as far as my
opportunities of obfervation have reached, is
the cafe of negroes w^ho have been domef-
tic ilaves for three or four generations in our
colonies, or have been made free three or
four generations back.*
* The reafoning here ufed was fubmltted to the late cele-
brated Dr. Hunter, who was pieafed to fay. That, as far as
anatomy was concerned, he thought it fair and conclufive.
The fame gentleman, in his courfe of ledlures at the Royal
Academy, when Ihewing the gradation of fkuils, a difcovery
which he candidly gave to its right Author, humanely obfervcd,
that he drew no conclufion from the difference in them refpefling
African inferiority. Several perfons, who had poffeffed the
beft opportunities of obferving the capacity of Africans, had
alTured him, that there was no difference to be feen, but what
could be traced to their depreffed condition, and that there
were inftances, where African ability had ftiewn itfelf in fpite
of all the difadvantages under which it laboured. He under-
ftood, that the very doubt whether they might not be an in-
ferior race, operated againft the humane treatment of them ;
and God forbid, faid he, that any vague conjedlure of mine
ftiouid be ufed to confirm the prejudice.— Such was the
modefty of true genius
That
Conversion OF African Slaves. 229
That there is any ePiential difference be-
tween the European and African mental
powers, as far as my experience has gone, I
politively deny. That there may be an ac-
cidental or circumftantial difference, I can
eafily fuppofe, and, fhould it be true, think
I can fee the reafon of it, as above explained.
And this opinion is farther ftrengthened, by
remarking, that, as far as the hiftory of
polifhed fociety goes back, both Afiatic and
European women have, from the firfl, been
generally indulged, and accuftomed to a
domeftic fedentary life, favourable to the
bearing and fuckling of fuch children as
might be capable of advancement in the
departments of reafon, and in all that
varied intelligence which polifhed life calls
forth and ftands in need of. We have
indeed one exception, and it is favourable to
our conclufion. The Spartan women were
accuflomed to a poor diet, and violent exer-
cife, even to contending and wreftling with
men. And it is well known, that among
the polifhed Greeks, the Spartans were a na-
tion of favages: their language, like that of
Other favages, broken, yet exprellive; their
P 3 know*
230
On the Treatment and
knowledge confined to war, but to the part
of a mere foldier^ for they were once fo
abfolutely without a citizen iit to command
their army, that they were obliged to em-
ploy a lame Athenian fidler as a general.
Nay, fo late as the Periian war, they were
forced to fend to the Athenians to get in-
ftrucfled how to attack a barracado, made of
baggage implements. Nor among the nume-
rous artiils and philofophers that Greece pro-
duced, are any celebrated as Spartans by
birth. For, if Lycurgus is to be reckoned an
exception, we may fay, that he formed the
Spartan difcipline, but was not himfelf form-
ed by it. If one or two individuals of that
ftate are to be ranked among the philofo-
phers, for uttering a few abrupt fentences,
there is not a chief among the American
favages but has an equal, perhaps a fuperior,
title to the ilation.
SECT.
Conversion of African Slaves. 231
SECT. IV.
Objedions to African Capacity, drawn from
Obfervation, confidered.
The ingenious author of a late Hiftory of
Jamaica, has treated this fubjed: at confider-
able length, and appears to have formed,
from his own obfervation, the fame opinion
as Hume's, of negroes being a diftindl race.
To fuppofe them only a diflindt race, will
not immediately affed: our arguments for
their humane treatment and mental improve-
ment j but the confequences ufually drawn
from it fliock humanity, and check every
hope of their advancement: for, if allowed
to be a difiinB race, European pride imme-
diately concludes them an inferior race, and
then it follows, of courfe, that nature formed
them to be flaves to their fuperiors. And
the mafter having eftabliflied thefe premifes
generally, and complimented himfelf with
a place among the fuperior beings, fairly
concludes himfelf loofed from all obligations,
but thofe of intereft, in his condudl towards
them. A horfe and a bull, are animals
P 4 each
232 On the Treatment and
each of a different fpecies ; but the fuperiority
has not been eflablifhed between them, nor
the inferior brought into bondage by the lordly
mafler, For argument's fake, fuppofe negroes
of a different and even of an inferior race,
ftill, we know they are-<:apable of forming,
and actually have formed, free independent
focieties^ and, though they have not yet at-
tained the refinements and luxuries of Eu-
rope, yet have they Ihewn no fmall ingenu-
ity in compacting themfelves together, and
made no mean progrefs in many of the arts
of life. And to help to compofe, and be a
member of a free ilate, is more honourablcj
and gives greater fcope to the mental powers,
than to be the moftpolifhed flave in America
or Europe. Still, being fuch, are they to be
dragged away from a country adapted to their
conftitutions, from plenty of nutritious food,
to which they have been accuffomed from
infancy,* to work as Haves, hungry, naked,
torn with ftripes, in a diilant, unfavourable
clime, for the avarice and lufts of, perhaps,
* LejR: this fhould feem to contradift the reafoning drawn
fyom their original favage ftate, it is neceflary to obferve that
the Haves, as brought from Africa, differ greatly, in refped of
ability, according as the nation from which they have been
kidnapped has advanced moce or lefs in fecial life,
fomc
Conversion of African Slaves. 233
feme of the mofl worthlefs perfons of the
pretendedly fuperior families, with whom
they had neither acquaintance or connedlion ?
Suppofe different races, and that they vary in
point of excellence j yet, in what chapter of
nature's law is it declared, that one quarter
of the globe fhall breed flaves for the reft?
Where (liall we find a charter conferring au-
thority on the one, and afcertaining the fub-
miiiion of the other? Are no conditions an-
nexed, no rights referved, which, when
violated, the fubjedied race can plead before
their common Lord ? Such a ftate cannot be
imagined as exifting under the government of
God: it is blafphemy againft his benevolence
even to fuppofe it. The inanimate and brute
creation was fitted for and fubmitted to
man's dominion ^ but man himfelf was left
independent of every perfonal claim in his
fellows. And nothing but an implied vo-
luntary furrender of his independency to
fociety, for the benefits of law, can controul
or lefTen his claim. But North- American or
Weft- Indian llavery implies no furrender,
fuppofes no fubmiflion, but to necefhty and
force.
Had
234 ^^ '^^^ Treatment AND
Had nature intended negroes for llavery,
fhe would have endowed them with many-
qualities which they now want. Their food
would have needed no preparation, their bo-
dies no covering; they would have been born
without any fentiment for liberty; and, pof-
feffing a patience not to be provoked, would
have been incapable of refentment or oppo-
iition; that high treafon againfl the divine
right of European dominion. A horfe or
a cow, when abufed, beaten, or ftarved, will
try to get out of the reach of the lafh, and
make no fcruple of attempting the neareft
inclofure to get at pafture. But we have not
heard of their withdrawing themfelves from
the fervice of an hard mailer, nor of aveng-
ing with his blood the cruelty of his treat-
ment.
To fuppofe different, efpecially fuperior
and inferior races, fuppofes different rules
of condud, and a different line of duty ne-
ceflary to be prefcribed for them. But v^^here
do we find traces of this difference in the
prefent cafe? Vice never appeared in Africa
in a more barbarous and fhocking garb, than
fhe is feen every day in the mofl polifhed
parts of Europe. Europe has not fhewn
greater
Conversion of African Slaves. 235
greater elevation of fentlment than has fhone
through the gloom of Africa. We can fee
caufe v^^hy the nations, into which for the
purpofes of fociety mankind has been di-
vided, fhould have charad:eriflic marks of
complexion and features, (and almoft the
whole of the prefent fubjed: of difcuffion
may be refolved into thefe) to tie, by the
refemblance, fellow-citizens more ciofely and
affectionately together. And, be it remarked,
that thefe figns are mere arbitrary impref-
iions, that neither give nor take away animal
or rational powers; but, in their efFed:, are
confined to the purpofe for which they appear
to have been imprefled, the binding of tribes
and families together. Farther, climate,
mode of living, and accidental prevalence
of particular cuitoms, will account for many
national charad:eriflics.
But the foul is a fimple fubftance, not to
be diftinguiilied by fquat or tall, black,
brown, or fair. Hence all the difference
that can take place in it is a greater or lefs
degree of energy, a more or lefs complete
correfpondence of a6lion, with the circum-
ftances in which the agent is placed. In
(hort, v/e can have no idea of intelled:, but
as
2^6 On the Treatment and
as ailing with infinite power and perfed
propriety in the Deity, and with various de-
grees of limited power and propriety, in
the feveral orders of intelligent created be-
ings; fo that there is nothing to diftinguifh
thefe feveral created orders, but more or lefs
power; and nothing to hinder us from fup-
poling the poffible gradual advancement of
the lower into the higher ranks of created
beings. But we cannot, in like manner,
ipeak of the change of a bull into an horfe,
or of a fwine into an elephant. The anni-
hilation of the one is included in the tranf-
mutation into the other, becaufe in it that
is loft which conftituted the fpecific differ-
ence.
We can plainly fee the propriety of different
purfuits, and different degrees of exertion of
the reafoning energetic powers in the feveral
individuals that compofe a community, for
carrying on the various purpofes of fociety.
But there is not, therefore, a neceffity to have
recourfe to different fpecies of fouls, as if
the peafant had one fort, the mechanic a
fecond, the man of learning a third; yet
whatever concludes for the propriety of races
differing in point of excellence, will con-?
Conversion of African Slaves. 237
elude alfo for a difference in thefe. And
we fee, in contradidion to all fuch reveries,
that communities nourifh in proportion a«
the lefs of any other difference takes place,
than that in vi^hich fociety naturally difpofeth
of its members for their mutual or joint
benefit. The foul is verfatile, and being fimple
in itfelf takes its manner and tindure from
the objeds around itj it univerfally appears
to be fitted only for that charader in which
it is to ad:: but that this is not an indelible
charader appears plainly in every page of the
hiftory of mankind. Look into our books
of travels, and, in perfons no ways remark-
able for genius or invention, admire the al-
mofl incredible efforts and produdions of
neceffity. How often has the ihepherd fhone
out as a ffatefman, and the peafant triumphed
as a general ? Can we fuppofe greater differ-
ence between the African and European, than,
for example, between the keeper of fi:ieep, and
the Governor of men^ between leading an
herd of gregarious animals out to paffure,
and direding the complicated genius and
bent of that various creature man, either
to counterad or attain the purpofes of fociety:
yet the only difference between them lies in
the diredion -given to the mental faculties.
Thus
238 On the Treatment and
Thus far we have oppofed opinion vAth
argument, and, excepting a remark of which
we fhall take notice, we may leave all that
the author above-mentioned has advanced of
the inferiority of negroes, to be contrafted
with the inftances given by himfelf of their
energy, abilities, arid fentiment, and to be
compared with the inftances of ftupidity to be
found in the moil polifhed nations. For, as
we have proved, if we eftablifli the notion of
different races, we muil fliill draw a line be-
tween the highefl of the one, and the lowefl
of that next above it. Particularly, we may
fay of his example, Francis Williams the
negroe poet and mathematician, that though
his verfes bear no great marks of genius, yet,
there have been bred at the fame univerlity
an hundred white mailers of arts, and many
dodors, who could not improve them 3 and,
therefore, his particular fuccefs in the fields
of fcience cannot operate againfl the natural
abilities of thofe of his colour, till it be
proved, that every white man bred there has
outflripped him. But allowance is to be made
for his being a folitary elTay, and the pofli-
bility of a wrong choice having been made
in him. Childifh fprightlinefs, for which
it
Conversion of African Slaves. 239-
it feems he was fingled out for the trial,
is not always, nor indeed often, a faithful
promifer of manly parts ; too frequently it
withers without fruit, like the early blolToms
of the fpring. Other gentlemen of Jamaica
fpeak highly of his abilities, and of the
favour they procured for him.
The remark in this author referred to, is
that Mulattoes cannot propagate their kind
with, each other, or, at lead, that their chil-
dren are few and {hort-lived. Now it fhould
be obferved that Mulattoe girls, during the
flower of their age, are univerfally facrificed
to the luft of white men^ in fome in-
ftances, to that of their own fathers. In
our town, the fale of their firft commerce,
with the other fex, at an unripe age, is an
article of trade for their mothers and elder
lifters 5 nay, it is not an uncommon thing for
their miftreftes, chafte matrons, to hire them
out, and take an account of their gains; or,
if they be free, they hire their fervice and
their perfons, to fome one of the numerous
band of batchelors. In this commerce they
often contrad; difeafes, and generally conti-
nue in it till grown haggard and worn out.
Thus few Mulattoes marry in their own rank,
and fewer in a ilate of health favourable to
popula-
240
On the Treatment and
population. But where the above clrcum-
ilances take not place, Mulattoe marriages are
extremely prolific, in every inflance v^ithin
my knowledge; and I can recollect more than
fix fuch families where there is a numerous
healthy offspring, and no doubt to be enter-
tained of their legitimacy. As intelle(fl is
the peculiar attribute of man, and is a
fimple fubftance, it is incumbent on thofe
who maintain a difference in races and na-
tural abilities, to tell us how the fuperior
intelledls of a white perfoUj and the inferior
intellects of a negroe unite, and become
a tertium quid, in their Mulattoe offspring.
Is nature at the expence of forming feparate
and different conditioned intelleds for all
the variety of cafls between complete white
and black in our feveral colonies ? *
SECT.
* In the above difcuffion we have aflumed the exiftence of
intelleft as confidently, as if modern philofophy had not afferted
man to be organized matter. The affertion, though unac-
companied by convidlion, is fuch a check to every afpiring
thought, that hardly, fince I heard of the difcovery, have I
been able to reconcile one to myfelf; nor can I endure an opi-
nion which would rob me of a comfort that fmoothed every ill
of life, and encouraged me to look up to futurity for a recom-
pence, which my heart told me was referved for the humble and
benevolent.
Conversion of African Slaves. 241
SECT. V.
African Capacity vindicated from Experience.
Having fhewn how little can be rationally
concluded againfl the capacity of negroes,
from
benevolent. It is true, that the abettors of it profefs to believe,
with Chriftians, man's future refloration. But if man be a
mere combination of atoms, when that combination is broken
by death, the Being formed by it is annihilated. A reunion.
of the fame particles v/ill conftitute a new Being, having no
moral refpeft to what happened to the firft, neither ftained with
its blame, nor inheriting its merit. Indeed imagination can-
not combine together the idea of merit and matter, becaufe
all the motions or aftions (if we could ufe the term) of matter
muft be necefTary and mechanical. The villain who murders,
the Samaritan who J'aues, a man, deferve equal applaufe.
Volition, or the aft of thinking, brings into exiftence fome
new motion or form. But can we imagine fuch a power lodged
with matter, which mufl: itfelf receive from without every par-
ticular impreffion, every new direftion ?
Suppofe matter capable of thinking, and the man to
have every nerve employed in purfuing a certain train of
reafoning ; from what energy, what attribute of matter fhall
we deduce the power of flopping in the full career of inquiry,
and taking at once an oppofite path ? If thinking be the effedt
ef organization, we can fuppofe no principle, no power lodged
in the man to controul or direfl it. It muft proceed me-
chanically, till it be ftopt mechanically. The man who refledls
on what pafleth in his mind, will perceive a difference between
that inward ad which weighs circumllances, and that which
Q^ determines
242
On the Treatment and
from their equatorial fettlement, flat nofe,
woolly head, projeding chin, high calves,
and
determines him on adlion. But deliberation is incompatible
with every notion of matter, becaufe it muft ever be forcibly
carried away by the predominant weight or power- To de-
liberate on, or balance circumftances, muft fuppofe fome prin-
ciple endowed with the power of eledlion; but of this, matter,
as matter, is incapable.
We cannot take into account what the Deity poffibly can do
in the plenitude of power. Wherever his works lie open to
inquiry, we obferve, that he invariably proceeds according to
the original nature of the fubjedl. Fire never freezes, froft
never warms. But if the Deity give to matter the power of
thinking, he fuperadds an attribute analogous to no other
quality of matter within our knowledge. He can give to a
bull the form and attributes of an horfe. But is not the bull
annihilated, and a new animal formed in his ftead? In like
manner, to give to matter the ability of thinking, it muft be
changed [into fpirit, becaufe the attribute of thinking is in-
compatible with matter, even as the diftinguifhing qualities of
an horfe cannot co-exift with thofe of a bull.
The weight of a material being is the weight of its parts
taken together, and may be divided into as many lefTer weights
as there are component parts ; its extent is a number of extents,
in proportion to the number of its extended parts; and thus it
holds of every quality, with which we are acquainted, except
this new difcovered attribute, no new quality being produced
by the compofition. We can affirm nothing of the whole that
may not be affirmed in part of every particle. B ut we cannot
thus divide volition into parts, or fcatter it among the feveral
limbs or organs, nor even Ihace it between the cerebrum and
cerebellum. It is one fimple uncompounded aft.
If
Conversion of African Slaves. 243
and black fkin, we come to fadt. Now we
know, that houfe negroes, who are generally
Creoles, and are converfant with their white
mailers, have all the addrefs, intrigue, and
cunning of family fervants in Europe. In
their mafters they can mark the ridiculous
point, the improper condud:, and often give
thefe fuperior beings that advice, which they
have not wifdom enough to follow; often man-
age their foibles, and mould them to their own
interell. If, according to the Marchionefs
d'Ancre, favouritifm and influence be marks
of fuperiority, many Weft-Indian families
muft allow a preference to the Africans.
Negroes are capable of learning any thing
that requires attention and corredtnefs of
manner. They have powers of defcription
and mimickry that would not have dif-
If it be neceffary to fuppofe a principle diftinft from matter,
to give form, motion, order, and defign to things, may we not
alfo fuppofe, that fuch creatures as men, who feel thefe aftive
powers within themfelves to a certain degree, may alfo be
endowed with a portion of that fpirit, which alone can begin
and imprefs motion on inert matter.
Merit has been afcribed to him who neglefted the body to
have leifure to improve the mind j but on this fcheme it is in-
tirely abfurd. He who cares for the body cares for the whole
man. A glutton is not an objedl of ridicule, but of fober
praife ; he is employed in pcrfefting his ability to think.
0^2 graced
244 ^N THE Treatment and
graced the talents of our modern Arifto-
phanes. The difdllation of rum, the tem-
pering of the cane juice for fugar, which
may be confidered as nice chemical opera-
tions, are univerfally committed to them.
They become good mechanics 3 they ufe the
fquare and compafs, and eafily become mailers
of whatever buiinefs they are put to. They
have a particular turn for mulic, and often
attain a confiderable proficiency in it with-
out the advantage of a mafter. Negroe fick
nurfes acquire a furprizing fkill in the cure
of ordinary difeafes, and often conquer difor-
ders that have baffled an hoft of regulars.
Nor want they emulation, in whatever their
obfervation can reach. Hence our black
beaus, black belles, black gamefters, black
keepers, black quacks, black conjurers, and
all that varietv of charadler, which ilirikes in
their mailers, or promifes to add to their
own dignity or intereil. But what can we
exped: them to attempt in the higher depart-
ments of reafon ? Their ilaviih employments
and condition ; their being abandoned to
the caprice of any mailer -, the fubjedion in
which it is thought necelTary to keep them
all I thefe things deprefs their minds, and
fubduc
Conversion of African Slaves. 245
fubdue whatever is manly, fplrited, ingenu-
ous, independent, among them. And thefe
are v/eights fufficient to crufli a firfh-rate
human genius.
Had it been the lot of a paradoxical Hume,
or of a benevolent Kaims, to have cultivat-
ed the fugar-cane, under a planter, in one
of our old iflands ; the firft probably would
have tried to have eked out his fcanty pit-
tance of two pounds of flour or grain per
week, by taking up the profeffion of a John
Crewman, or conjurer; and doubtlefs would
have got many a flogging for playing tricks
with, and impofing on the credulity of his
fellows, to cheat them of their allowance.
The turn of the other to works of tafl:e
might have expreflTed itfelf in learning to
blow a rude fort of muflc from his noftril,
through an hollowed piece of ftick; or, if
blefl^ed with an indulgent mafl:er, he might
have learned to play by ear a few minuets,
and fiddle a few country dances, to enable
the family and neighbours to pafs an even-
ing cheerfully together.
The truth is, a depth of cunning that en-
ables them to over-reach, conceal, deceive,
is the only province of the mind left for
0^3 them.
246 On the Treatment and
them, as flaves, to occupy. And this they
cultivate, and enjoy the fruits of, to a fur-
prizing degree. I have, as a magiftrate,
heard examinations and defences of culprits,
that for quibbling, fubterfuges, and fubtilty,
would have done credit to the abilities of an
attorney, mofl: notorioully converfant in the
villainous tricks of his profeffion. Their
command of countenance is fo perfedt, as
not to give the IcalT: clue for difcovering the
truth i nor can they be caught tripping in
a ftory. Nothing in the turn or degree
of their mental faculties, diftinguifhes them
from Europeans, though fome difference
mufl: appear, if they v^ere of a different or
an inferior race.
I had a young fellow, who was a noto-
rious gambler, idler, liar, and man of plea-
fure 'j yet fo well did he lay his fchemes, fo
plaufibly did he on all occalions account
for his time and conducft, that I, who could
not punifh unlefs I could convince the cul-
prit that I had undoubted proof of his
guilt, was hardly ever able to find an op-
portunity of correcting him. This lad,
when he came a boy from Africa, /hewed
marks of fentiment^ and of a training abovp
the
Conversion of African Slaves. 247
the common run of negroes. But (lavery,
even in the mildeft degree, and his accom-
panying with Haves, gave him fo worth-
lefs, diffipated a turn, that I was obliged
to fend him out of the family, and have
him taught a trade in hopes of his refor-
mation. By this he infenlibly acquired a
little application, and has fince attached him-
felf to a wife. His father, he fays, was a
man of property, had a large houfhold, and
many wives. He was kidnapped.
There is another lad, who could ftand
without flinching to be cut in pieces by
the whip, and not utter a groan. As whip-
ping was a triumph, inftead of a punifli-
ment to him, I was obliged to overlook the
moft notorious faults, or affedl generoufly
to pardon them, rather than pretend to cor-
rect them. Yet this proceeds not from in-
fenfibility of pain, for if bleeding be pre-
fcribed for him when lick, he cries like a
child, and flirinks from the operation.
About twelve years ago he was caught in a
fault, that by the cuftom of the colony
would have juftified his mafter in carry-
ing his punifhment to any degree, ihort of
^xtrerpity. Pains were taken to fet tPie
Q^ 4, enormity
24S On the Treatment and
enormity of it before him, and he was free-
ly pardoned, and his fellows were ftridly
forbidden ever to upbraid him with it.
Since that time he has behaved remarkably
well and truil- worthy, and fhewn a very
uncommon attachment to the family. A
third boy, who is fenfible as a little lord
of every affront offered to his dignity, could
fliand with the fullen air of a floic to re-
ceive the feverefl corre(flion.
In truth, in fpite of the difadvantages un-
der which they labour, individuals, on par-
ticular occafions, have fliewn an elevation
of fentiment that would have done honour
to a Spartan. The Spectator, No. 215, has
celebrated a rude inflance in two negroes, in
the iiland of St. Chriilopher, which on
inquiry I find to be true. I will confirm
this by the relation of a deed, that happen-
ed within thefe thirty years, for which I
have no name. As I had my information
from a friend of the mailer's, in the mailer's
prefence, who acknowledged it to be ge-
nuine, the truth of it is indifputable. The
only liberty I have taken with it, has been
to give words to the fentiment that infpir-
cd it.
Quaihi
Conversion of African Slaves. 249
Qua{hi was brought up in the family
with his mailer, as his play- fellow, from his
childhood. Being a lad of towardly parts,
he rofe to be driver, or black overfeer, un-
der his mafler, when the plantation fell to
him by fucceffion. He retained for his
mafler the tendernefs that he had felt in»
childhood for his play-mate ; and the re-
fped; with which the relation of mafler in-
ipired him, was foftened by the affection
which the remembrance of their boyifh in-
timacy kept alive in his breafl. He had
no feparate interefl of his own, and in his
mafler's abfence redoubled his diligence,
that his affairs might receive no injury from
it. In fliort, here was the mofl delicate,
yet mofl flrong, and feemingly indifToluble
tie, that could bind mafler and flave toge-
ther.
Though the mafter had judgment to know
when he was well ferved, and policy to re-
ward good behaviour, he was inexorable
when a fault was committed ; and when
there was but an apparent caufe of fuf-
picion, he was too apt to let prejudice
ufurp the place of proof. Quafhi could
not exculpate himfelf to his fatisfadion, for
fomething
250 On the Treatment and
fomething done contrary to the difcipllne
of the plantation, and was threatened with the
ignominious punifhment of the cart-whip ;
and he knew his mafter too well, to doubt
of the performance of his promife.
A negroe, who has grown up to manhood,
without undergoing a folemn cart- whipping,
as fome by good chance will, efpecially if
diflinguifhed by any accomplifliment among
his fellows, takes pride in what he calls the
fmoothnefs of his fkin, its being unrazed
by the whipi and he would be at more
pains, and ufe more diligence to efcape fuch
a cart- whipping, than many of our lower
fort would ufe to ihun the gallows. It is
not uncommon for a fober good negroe to
flab himfelf mortally, becaufe fome boy-
overfeer has flogged him, for what he reclc^
oned a trifle, or for his caprice, or threat-
ened him with a flogging, when he thought
he did not deferve it. Quafhi dreaded this
mortal wound to his honour, and flipt away
unnoticed, with a view to avoid it.
It is ufual for flaves, who exped: to be
punifhed for their own fault, or their maA
ter's caprice, to go to fome friend of their
mafter's, and beg him to carry them home.
Conversion of African Slaves. 251
and mediate for them. This is found to be
fo ufeful, that humane mailers are glad of
the pretence of fuch mediation, and will
fecretly procure it to avoid the neceflity of
punilhing for trifles -, it otherwife not being
prudent to pafs over without corredion, a
fault once taken notice of; while by this
method, an appearance of authority and
difcipline is kept up, without the feverity of
it. Quaflii therefore withdrew, refolved to
fhelter himfelf, and fave the gloiTy honours
of his fkin, under favour of this cuftom,
till he had an opportunity of applying to
an advocate. He lurked among his mafter's
negroe huts, and his fellow flaves had too
much honour, and too great a regard for
him, to betray to their mafter the place of
his retreat. Indeed, it is hardly pollible in
any cafe, to get one flave to inform againfl
another, fo much more honour have they
than Europeans of low condition.
The following day a feaft was kept, on
account of his mafter's nephew then coming
of age ; amidfl: the good humour of which,
Quafhi hoped to fucceed in his application ;
but before he could execute his defign, per-
haps jull as he was fetting out to go and
folicit
2^2 On the Treatment and
folicit this mediation, his mafter, while
walking about his fields, fell in with him.
Quafhi, on difcovering him, ran ofF, and
the mafter, who is a robufl: man, purfued
him. A ftone, or a clod, tripped Quafhi
up, Julias the other reached out his hand
to feize him. They fell together, and
wreftled for the maflery, for Quaihi alfo
was a ilout man, and the elevation of his
mind added vigour to his arm. At lail,
after a fevere ftruggle, in which each had
been feveral times uppermoft, Quafhi got
firmly feated on his mailer's breaft, now
panting and out of breath, and with his
weight, his thighs, and one hand, fecured
him motionlefs. He then drew out a iharp
knife, and while the other lay in dreadful
expectation, helplefs, and Ihrinking into
himfelf, he thus addrefTed him. ** Mafter,
*' I was bred up with you from a child ;
** I was your play-mate when a hoy; I
** have loved you as myfelf j your interefi;
** has been my ftudy ; I am innocent of the
** caufe of your fufpicion ; had I been guil-
** ty, my attachment to you might have
** pleaded for me. Yet you have condemned
** me to a puni£hment, of which I mufl
** ever
Conversion of African Slaves. 253
** ever have borne the difgraceful marks;
" thus only can I avoid them." With thefe
words, he drew the knife with all his flrength
acrofs his own throat, and fell down dead
without a groan, on his mafter, bathing
him in his blood.
Had this man been properly educated ; had
he been taught his importance as a member
of fociety ; had he been accuftomed to weigh
his claim to, and enjoy the poffeffion of the
unalienable rights of humanity j can any
man fuppofe him incapable of making a
progrefs in the knowledge of religion, in
the refearches of reafon, or the works of
art ? Or can it be affirmed, that a man, who
amidfl the difadvantages, and gloom of 11a-
very, had attained a refinement of fentiment,
to which language cannot give a name,
which leaves the bulk of polifhed fociety
far behind, could want abilities to acquire
arts and fciences, which we too often find
coupled with a fawning, a mean, a flavifli
fpirit ? Others may, I will not believe it.
This is a truly mournful inftance of a
noblenefs and grandeur of mind in a
negroe. The following, though allied to
diftrefs, is of a lefs awful nature, but will
(hew, that all the nobler qualities of the
heart
254 On the Treatment and
heart are not monopolized by the white
race.
Jofeph Rachel was a black trader in Bar-
badoesj he dealt chiefly in the retail way,
and was fo fair and complaifant in bufinefs,
that in a town filled with little peddling
fhops, his doors were thronged with cuftom-
ers. I have often dealt with him, and found
him remarkably honeft and obliging. If any
one knew not where to procure an article,
Jofeph would be at pains to fearch it out,
to fupply him, without making an advan-
tage of it. In fhort, his charad:er was fo
fair, his manners fo generous, that the befl
people (hewed him a regard, which they
often deny men of their own colour, becaufe
not bleifed with like goodnefs of heart.
In 1756 a fire happened, which burned down
great part of the town, and ruined many of
the inhabitants. Jofeph luckily lived in a
quarter that efcaped the deftrudlion, and
expreifed his thankfulnefs, by foftening the
diftrefles of his neighbours. Among thofe
who had loft their all by this heavy misfor-
tune, was a man to whofe family Jofeph, in
the early part of life, owed fome obligati-
ons. This man, by too great hofpitality,
an
Conversion of African Slaves. 255
an excefs common enough in the Weft-
Indies, had involved his affairs, before the
fire happened, and his eftate lying in houfes,
that event intirely ruined him; he efcaping
with only the clothes on his back. Amidft
the cries of mifery and want, which excited
Jofeph's compaffion, this man's unfortunate
lituation claimed particular notice. The ge-
nerous, the open temper of the fufferer, the
obligations that Jofeph had to his family,
were fpecial and powerful motives for adling
towards him the friendly part.
Jofeph held his bond for fixty pounds
fterling. ** Unfortunate man," fays he, " this
*' ihall never come againft thee. Would hea-
** ven thou could fettle all thy other matters
** aseafily ! But how am I fure that I ihall
** keep in this mind : may not the love of
*' gain, efpecially, when, by length of time,
** thy misfortune has become familiar to me,
*' return with too ftrong a current, and bear
** down my fellow-feeling before it? But for
*' this I have a remedy. Never fhalt thou ap-
** ply for the affiftance of any friend againft
" my avarice." He got up, ordered a current
account that the man had with him, to a
confiderable amount, to be drawn out, and
in
256 On tjie Treatment and
in a whim, that might have called up a fmile
on the face of charity, filled his pipe, fat
down again, twifted the bond, and lighted
his pipe with it. While the account
was drawing out, he continued fmoking, in a
ftate of mind that a monarch might envy.
When finifhed, he went in fearch of his
friend, with the account difcharged, and the
mutilated bond in his hand. On meeting
with him, he prefented the papers to him
with this addrefs. ** Sir, I am fenfibly af-
** fe(fted with your misfortunes 5 the obli-
*' gations that I have received from your
** family, give me a relation to every branch
** of it. I know that your inability to fa-
*' tisfy for what you owe, gives you more
** uneafinefs than the lofs of your own fub-
** fiance. That you may not be anxious on
** my account in particular, accept of this
** difcharge, and the remains of your bond.
" I am over paid in the fatisfadion that I
*' feel, from having done my duty. I beg
*' you to confider this only as a token of
** the happinefs that you will impart to
** me, whenever you put it in my power to
** do you a good office." One may eafily
guefs at the man's feelings, on being thus
generoully
Conversion of African Slaves. 257
generoully treated, and how much his mind
muft have been ftrengthened to bear up
againll: his misfortunes. I knew him a few
years after this ; he had got a fmall poft in
one of the forts, and preferved a decent
appearance.
But his hofpitable turn continued even
after he had lofl: the means of indulging it.
He has often invited five or fix acquaintances,
or fi:rangers, to fpend the evening when he
has not had even a candle to light up before
them. Vv^henever his fervant faw him come
home thus attended, and heard him call
away, as in his better days, his refouroe was
to run over to Jofeph, and inform him that
fuch and fuch gentlemen were to fup with
his mafier. Immediately the fpermaceti
candle, and punch, and wine of the beft
quality were on the table, as if by magic;
and foon after Jofeph's fervants appeared,
bringing in a neatfupper, and waiting on the
company. All this was done without a
profpe6l of return, purely to indulge his
gratitude, and fupport his friend's credit.
And will any man pretend to look down
with contempt on one capable of fuch gene-
rofity, becaufe the colour of his fkin is
black ?
' R Some
258 On the Treatment and
Some readers, perhaps, may give Joleph
more credit for the following ftory. A colo-
nel , a moft penurious mifer, ufed
to call frequently at Jofeph's fhop, on pre-
tence of cheapening cocoa : he was always
fure to carry away as much for a tafle as his
pocket would hold, but never bought any.
Jofeph, at firfl, was at a lofs what to do.
He knew, that, being a negroe, his evidence
would not be taken in court, even for the
value of a penny againil a white man. But
the colonel continuing his depredations, he
was loth to fee his cocoa diminiili daily be-
fore him without any thing in return for it.
He therefore hired a white man for clerk,
and ordered him to weigh out a bag of cocoa,
and keep it particularly under his own care,
to fupply the colonel with taftings whenever
he ihould call. The colonel foon emptied the
bag, and then Jofeph delivered in his ac-
count. The colonel ftormed, fwore, and
threatened till out of breath, when Jofeph
took the opportunity of informing his honour
of the fteps he had taken. His avarice now
alarmed him with the expences of a law-
-fuit: and fuggefted that being fo fairly
taken in, there was nothing to be done, in
prudence.
Conversion of African Slaves. 259
prudence, but to pay the money peace-
ably. By this innocent ftratagem Jofeph
got rid of the colonel's tafting vifits.
I {hall only give one more inflance
in favour of the negroes ; though a vo-
lume might eafily be filled. A lieutenant
of a regiment in garrifon at St. Chriftopher's
died, and left his fon an orphan. A particular
family had promifed him, on his death-bed,
to take care of his boy; but he v^^as wholly
abandoned, and forced to keep among the
negroe children, and live on fuch fcraps as
he could find. In this flate, he caught that
loathfome difeafe the yaws, which became a
new reafon for giving him up to his fate.
In this ulcerated condition, Babay, a poor
negrefs, found him, took him into her hut,
got him cured, and maintained him till he
was able to work for himfelf. The firfl money
that he earned went to purchafe her freedom.
He took her home to his houfe, and, as long
as (lie lived afterwards, which might be
upwards of forty years, treated her with the
moH: refpe(5tful kindnefs. He gave her a moffc
expenfive burial, and had a funeral fermon
preached over her. As that fermon was de-
livered before people acquainted with her
charader, and mentioned fuch circumftan-
R 2 ces
26o On the Treatment and
ces as I vvifh here to remark, I fhall give an
extrad: of what was addreffed to the flaves
that attended, relating to her. '* This good
** woman was like many of you, a ilave^ and,
*' as iuch, laboured under every difadvantage
*' which you can plead for not doing your
** duty; yet, in this fituation, flie fhewed,
** in her conduct, the noblefl: fruits of re-
** ligion and charity. A helplefs child, left
*' an orphan, in a ftrange country, far from
*' any relation or even acquaintance to his
*' family, abandoned by thofe who under-
" took to rear him, from her alone could
*' raife pity, or engage attention. When left,
*' by all of his own rank and colour, to
*' perifh in a loathfome difeafe, though fon
** to a fervant of the public, with whom every
*• true lover of his country ihould have
*' fympathized, fhe, alone, lodged him,
** nurfed him carefully, got him cured, and
*' put him in a way to provide for himfelf.
*' This inftance of generofity, found in one
" of her condition, is a proof that noble and
** dilinterefted adions are not, as many think,
** confined to advantages of birth or educa-
" tion; for fhe had nothing to dired: her
** but God's grace working on a tradable
** heart:
Conversion of African Slaves. 261
" heart: and this benevolent temper (hewed
*' itfelf in every part of her behaviour through
** life, and was accompanied in her with a
*' true fenfe of religion. She was well ac-
" quainted with what fhe ought to know and
'* believe; and always fpoke of religion with
*' an earneflnefs, and ferioufnefs, and know-
** ledge, which I wifh vv^ere more general than
" 1 have found it among thofe who efceem
*' themfelvcs her betters. Here then is a
*' fhining example of goodnefs, on your own
*' level, for your imitation."*
* The following thoughts have been communicated lately to
the author by a humane intelligent lea officer, who, in his
command on foreign ftations, did not think he went out of
his line by pleading and promoting the caufe of humanity.
They are particularly pertinent in this place to prove Africans
proper objefts of improvement and police.
" I have talked, I have written ; I have often bluihed for the
*' unnatural tyranny exercifed in our Weft Indian ifles; where
" Proteftants even exceed Papifts in barbarity to the unfortunate
" flaves that have become their purchafed property. Particu-
" larly, I have, in the warmeft manner, recommended their
•* imitation of the Roman Catholics in beftowing baptifm on
*' their flaves, inforcingmy argument from this confideration:"
" You acknowledge the Chrillian path, in which you walk,
** to lead to a happy future ftate; how can you then, as men or
" Chriftians, refufe that to your flaves, which you believe will
** intitle them to falvation?" " I cannot boaft of the impref-
*' fions that thefe arguments made in our Weftern Archipelago.
** But, finding the planters in the colonies adjoining to Spanilh
R 3 *' fettle-
262 On the Treatment and
** fettlements, complaining that their flaves were daily defert-
" ing from them, I thought I had found an argument to urge
*' intirely in their own way." " Your flaves defert to the
** Spaniards, becaufe they grant them greater privileges than
•' you do, and make Chriftians of them. Ufa you the fame
** methods, and they will not think of leaving you."
" The negroes along the fea-coaft of Africa (particularly
*' among the French) are well-informed, eafy, kind, generous,
** and have a better fenfe of right and wrong than any other peo-
*' pie I have ever vifited. I was thrown among them in a ftate of
*' wretchednefs and iicknefs, with feventy-feven dying men, be-
" ing abandoned by our own people, who refufed rne affiftance
" and medicines, I call: myfelf on the charity of favages, and
** received more in fiances of compafTion and goodnefs from them
*' than from all the Chriflians I have ever known. From this
" exemplary benignity in this people, who are inhabitants
*' about Cape Verd, may be collefted the probability of intro-
*' ducing freedom and Chriftianity among them,"
** On the fouthern continent of Africa the natives are well
"■' informed, well clad, dwell in fuperb houfes, abound in cattle
** and other pofTefTions. Some Porteguefe are fettled among
^* them, but, I believe, they drav/ their knowledge, mer-
** chandize, and grandeur from their communication with
I* Mozambique, Arabia, and Egypt. The places I chiefly
'^' refer to, are Paulo Loando and St. Philip de Buengala."
CHAP,
( 263 )
CHAP. V.
Plan for the Improvement and Converfion of
African Slaves.
HAVE nov^ gone through the feveral
preliminary articles that refped; flaves
in our fugar colonies. I have defcribed their
condition at prefent. I have {hewn that
there would be good policy and much profit,
both to the ftate and the mafter, in advancing
it ; that this advancement muft go hand in
hand with their inftru(5tion in religion ; and,
again, that inftru6tion is neceflary to make
them good and ufeful fubje6ts. I have vin-
dicated for them the natural equality and com-
mon origin of mankind. I have claimed, as
their due, the attention of government. I have
endeavoured to in tereft humanity, policy, and
religion in their favour. It only remains to
pointout the method in which thefe ihould co-
R ^ operate
264 On the Treatment and
operate for their advantage. That which I
am now to offer, I propofe not as the beft
poffible, but as the moil prafticable method,
having refped: to the feifiihnefs and preju-
dices of the age. Were government and peo-
ple once well awakened to their own intereft,
and heartily inclined, fomething much more
promifing might be ilruck out. The chief
advantages of the following plan is, that it
may be fet on foot by government, without
depending on the caprice of individuals, or
affecting their intereft; that it will be gradual
in its operation, and therefore more likely
to accommodate itfelf to the ordinary courfe
of human affairs. At the worft, it adds only
one more to the many Utopian fchemes that
volunteer reformers produce for the benefit
of the heedlefs public. Should it ever be
found as impracticable in itfelf, as it is in
refped; of me, it may lead fome more happy
man to a fcheme both pradicable and fuc-
cefsful. In the mean time it may contribute
to foften their prefent treatment; and it will
be a teftimony of the author's affed:ion to
the caufe of humanity, religion, and his
country. The event muil be left to Pro-
vidence. It will be adapted to the ffate of a
parti-
Conversion of African Slaves. 265
particular colony j but may eafily be accom-
modated to others. I fliall only premife, that
the feveral hints occafionally given in the
courfe of the work, and what has been fug-
gefted in the cafe of particular plantations,
chap. III. fed:. V. is offered to every other
owner of Haves, as far as circumflances will
permit.
SECT. L .
Eflabliihment of Clergy, and their Duty
among Slaves.
The illand of St. Chriftopher's, of which
we particularly treat, is divided into nine
pariflies, and is, at prefent, fupplied by five
miniilers j the emoluments of two parities
being barely fufficient for the decent fup-
port of a family, without fuppofing any pro-
viiion made for a widow and children. But,
to carry on our plan of reformation among
Jflaves ; nay, indeed for the due fupport of an
eflabliflied religion among the white inha-
bitants, it would be necelTary that each
parifh fhould have its own incumbent. This *
would give the proportion of one minifler to
about
266 On the Treatment and
about 3000 inhabitants; but it would re-
quire the provifion allotted for their main-
tenance to be increafed. Of this provifion
I fliall not at prefent treat; though, when-
ever it becomes an objed: of police, it will
be eafy to propofe a fund for their decent
maintenance without any feniible new ex-
pence to government or people, and chiefly
by changing the mode of certain prefent im-
pofts. In the proportion here fuggefted,
many parities, efpecially in Jamaica, would
require to be divided; but the minifters
could eafily and profitably for the colony be
provided for there by allotments of unappro-
priated funds.*
I would propofe alfo a fchool to be
eilablifhed in each parifli ; the fchool -mailer
* Barbadoes contains eleven parilhes, each with its minilier ^
the town parifh has alfo a fixed curate. In Antigua there
are fix parifhes, and fix minifters. In Montferrat there are fouf
parifhes, and two minifters. In Nevis five parifhes, and three
minifters. In Grenada there are ufually two minifters without
appointments; it is the fame in Dominica. In St. Vincent's
there are two minifters, and very fmall appointments. In
Tortola there is no fixed minifter. In Anguilla the minifter has
been long dumb for want of a maintenance. In Jamaica there
are nineteen parifhes, fome of them as large as the whol?
Leward Ifland government, and fome of them without church
or minifter.
tQ
Conversion of African Slaves. 267
to be under the minifter's dire(5lion, and to
affift in inilrufting ancj bringing forward the
young children. A houfe, the place of
parifh clerk, and fome other fmall appoint-
ment, with the benefit of fcholars, would
always procure decent men for the office.-}-
Suppofe then a proper number of fober,
pious minifters fettled in the colonies, each
in his own cure, and employed in the duties
of his function, fupported by government,
and encouraged by good men. Let the
minifter, every Sunday, perform the ufual
morning fervice to his white pariihioners,
and fuch fenfible negroes as can attend; in
f Indeed a very fmall proportion of thofe immenfe fums that
are thrown away under pretence of educating their children in
England, would pfocure men properly qualified to fettle in thefc
fchools in theiflands, which would not only fave to the parents
much needlefs expence, but alfo prefervc the morals of the
youth, and train them up to be ufeful to tliemfelves and
families. A young Weft-Indian, conligned to a fugar-fa<ftor
to be educated at a difrance from his father, foon begins to know
no other relationfhip between him and his parent, than that of
banker. He makes expenfive connexions, acquires habits of
diflipation, is never made to feel his own weight, and feldom
learns to turn out ufefully in life. Where parents have not the
vanity or are not in circumftances to fend them to England,
but content themfelves with giving them an ufeful education
near them, Weft-Indian children ftiew that they want neither
capacity nor application.
the
268 On the Treatment a
ND
the afternoon let the fervice be adapted to
the negroes. Injfliead of a common fermon^
let him explain to them, in courfe, a chapter
of the New Teftament, making them inti-
mately acquainted with the million and hif-
tory of our Saviour, and our relation to him,
as the immediate Creator, Head, and Re-
deemer of the world. Let the clergyman
frequently give a fhort expolition of the
apoftle's creed, in eafy terms, and explain
the ten commandments in words adapted
to their capacity.
Let the minifters jointly compofe forms of
devotion, fome to be ufed in private by the
negroes, others for their field morning and
evening prayers, and others, more compre-
henfive, to be ufed by the whole gang on
Sundays, in the plantation. Let them be
drawn up {liort, fimple, inflrudive, expref-
live of their relation to God, to a Saviour,
to fociety, and of the refpe6t that a candidate
for heaven owes to himfelf. Indeed it would
be found a great advantage in carrying on the
work, if the forms were compofed to ferve in
all the colonies generall}^ Mailers fhould be
exhorted to fend, at convenient times, their
moil fenfible flaves to the minifler, to be in-
flru(5ted
Conversion of African Slaves. 269
flrudted in thefe forms, that they may teach
the reft, and take the lead in the plantation
evening and morning devotions. If the
mafter, manager, or overfeer, v^ere conflantly
to lead their Sunday plantation devotions, it
would have an excellent effed:. Negroes,
v^ho are w^ell treated and in fpirits, fing at
work. A few eafy lingle ftanzas might be
collected or compofed, to be ufed inftead of
their common fongs. In every thing drawn
up for them, the expreffion ihould be fimple,
and the meaning obvious.
Let the minifter vifit the plantations in
rotation, at convenient times, to inquire
into the behaviour and improvement of the
flaves, to commend, reprove, admonifh, and
pray with them. To give him refped; and
influence, let all be obliged to appear befqre
him decently clothed.
Let him pay a particular attention to chil-
dren ; that while their minds are tender, be-
fore their difpofitions be foured by the im-
pofitions of flavery, they may make fome
progrefs in the knowledge of their duty.
As they may be better fpared from plan-
tation work than the reft, they may attend
on the minifter on particular week days for
inftrudion.
In
2^6 On the Treatment ani>
In common cafes, no culprit fhould be
punifhed by the mafter, who can find a fen-
lible fober negroe to be furety for his good
behaviour: but both furety and culprit fhould
be frequently admoniflied by the minifter of
the nature of the engagement; and this prac-
tice would give him many opportunities of
hnprinting on their minds the obligations of
virtue, the claims of fociety, the difference
between right and wrong. In fhort, one
circumftance that has happened among
themfelves, properly difcuffed before them
and imprinted on their minds, will have a
better and more lafting effed: than a thoufand
difcourfes on general good and evil.
Wherever there is room for fhewing
mercy, it Ihould be done at the minifler's
interceffion, that he may be confidered as a
mediator between the flave on one fide, and
the mafler and the law on the other. He
fliould never appear in any other light among
them than that of their inftrudtor and be-
nefactor, praying with them, interceding
for them, or doing fome good office to them;
that their efteem for his perfon, and grati-
tude for his kindnefs, may fland to them in
place of a law, may produce in them a love
for
Conversion of African Slaves. 271
for his dodlrine, and be a pledge of their
good behaviour to the community. One
caufe of the author's little fuccefs among
his own Haves v^^as, doubtlefs, the necefhty of
mixing the authority of the mailer in do-
meftic matters, with the exhortations of the
teacher; and the fuperior fuccefs of the
Moravians may be accounted for, from their
being fctn by their fcholars, only in the be-
nevolent light of inflru6lors.
The minifters fhould have monthly meet-
ings at each other's houfes, to which well-
difpofed gentlemen of the neighbourhood
fhould be occafionally invited: at thefe they
might talk over their difficulties, their fuc-
celfes, their plans. Every meafure fliould be
Carefully difculfed before carried into exe-
cution; the plan of inftrudion fliould be
uniform; the prayers, precepts, hymns,
fhould all fpeak one language. And we might
hope that the miniflers, relieved by a decent
provifion from worldly care, countenanced
by government, refpeded by good men, and
encouraged by each other in this good work,
would foon find pleafure in it, and fee it
profper in their hands.
But
272
On the Treatment and
But fome greater care fhould be taken in
the choice of perfons defigned for this labour,
and of candidates fent over from the colo-
nies for ordination, than has been hither-
to ufuaL It is now growing into a
cuftom, in the Weft-Indies, for men that
have diffipated their patrimony, to flee
to the church as their laft refuge from
poverty,, often with very flender pretenfions
refpeding education, and lefs refpedting de-
cency of characfter. Yet, if any diftinition
were proper, the colonifts, even fetting aiide
this plan of the converlion of their flaves,
by reafon of their ufual careleflnefs and dif-
lipation, require a fuperior attention to the
charad:er of their paftors. Perhaps the fitteft
perfons that could be fent out would be dif-
creet curates from England, accuftomed to
teaching, whofe hopes of preferment are fmall,
towhom thefe fettlements would beadelirable
advancement. The Society for Propagating
the Gofpel might have a committee to ex-
amine, feledl, and recommend them to the
feveral governors.
SECT.
Conversion of African Slaves. ^Ji
SECT. II.
General Improvement of Slaves.
I have vindicated the natural capacity of
African flaves, have laid before the reader
their prefent condition, have proved that
to advance them in religion and fecial life
vi^ould profit both the public and their
mafters, and have propofed a plan for their
inftrudiion. We may now make this in-
ference refpedling the original defign of this
w^ork. Were the yoke of flavery made to fit
more eafy on their necks; v^ere they taught
to think more juftiy of themfelves, more
moderately of their mailers; did their con-
dition admit of the enjoyment of the com-
mon conveniences of life; were thefe ex-
tended and fecured to them; were their fa-
milies and offspring to be confidered as their
own, not wantonly to be torn from them at
the caprice, or to pay for the extravagance, of
their tyrant; then would they be found ca-
pable of arts 'that are ufeful in fociety here,
and of extending their own views to futurity.
Then, when they had become fenfible of
S their
274 On the Treatment and
their relation to God, would his religion,
which we wifh to introduce, have a fair
chance among them^ they would eileem
themfelves more worthy of it, more nearly
connected with it, more ftridly obliged to
inquire into its dodrines, and conform their
lives to its laws. Then, in refpect of in-
telled:, would they be found equal to the
people of any country.
French flaves enjoy a great advantage for
the admiffion of religion over Englifh flaves,
in the familiarity that French manners per-
mit them to live in with white people :
an advantage that is increafed by the prefenc©
of their owners, who generally live and con-
verfe with them, fuperintend and partake
with them in their labours, inftead of fub-
mitting them to hirelings; many of whom,
in fullen filence, think of nothing but of
extorting labour out of them, at the expence
of health, life, and every human feeling;
and are, indeed, often obliged to do this to
keep up the remittances, and preferve their
places. The above-mentioned circumftances
in the French iflands conceal the diftance be-
tween mafter and flave, make the diftind:ion
eafier to the latter, and, by exciting equally
their afFedion and ambition, pave the way
for
Conversion of African Slaves. 275
for introducing among them the cufloms and
religion of their mafters.
The difficulties which the French had to
conquer in their firft attempts to convert Haves
cannot now be afcertained. But, long fince,
cuftom and time have made the work eafy to
them. Religion, as they teach it, places
particular merit in the work of converfion,
which is a fpur to their piety. The Creole
flaves know no other religion than Chrifti-
anity. The new African Haves are gradually
abforbed into the mafs. With the firfi: rudi-
ments of a new language, they draw in the
precepts of a religion that mixes itfelf with
every mode of common life; as foreigners
are faid to learn Engliih, by the oaths and
imprecations with which our tongue abounds.
Thus they acquire the religion gradually,
with the cuftoms of their new countrv,
while attention and curiofity are Urong on
them, before they have been put to hard or
difagreeable labour, to difgufi: them with the
manners and worfhip of their mafters.
It muft be owned, indeed, that the Romifh
mode of worfliip, confifting of pomp and
ceremony, is better calculated to flrike, at
Jirji fight y the imagination of ignorant peo-
ple, than our fimple ritual, A remark,
S 2 that
276 On the Treatment and
that may explain the attention which a very
oppolite fed:, the Moravians, pay to forms
in managing favages, and the flrefs that they
lay on the defcription of our Saviour's fuf-
ferings and crucifixion > as if it was necelTary
for improving the mind, to make religion a
mechanic exercife, and draw piety as an ob-
ject of fenfe.
On the other hand, till the minds of our
flaves be more enlightened, till their iituation
be made more eafy, till they have a refuge
againfl the efFed:s of the caprice, ignorance,
cruelty, poverty of their mailers, till they
think themfelves intitled to the protection
of fociety, we cannot expect them to take
their proper rank in the fcate, nor to
make any coniiderable progrefs in religious
knowledge. At prefent they know and feel
nothing of fociety, but the hardships and
punifliments that it cruelly and capriciouily
infiidts j they lie far beyond its care, and out
of the circle of its comforts. And I be-
lieve it Vv'ill be found, that Chriftianity has
feldom made any great progrefs, except
vv^here fociety was in an advanced ftate.
!Nor has it fupported itfelf, but in the
polifhed parts of Europe and America. And
how.
Conversion OF African Slaves. 277
how, rationally fpeaking, can it happen
otherwife? A conformity with revealed re-
ligion fuppofeth a conqueil over the feliifh
paffions; and unlefs we be iirfl accuflomed
to facrifice, in a certain degree, thefe paffions
for the advantages of fociety, which come
home to our immediate feelings, we fhall
hardly be willing to facrifice them for the
hopes of religion. Indeed the benevolence
or charity, which is the corner-ftone of Chrif-
tianity, is evidently a refinement on juilice,
which is the bond of fociety. But, can v/e
refine on a law that doth notexift? As reli-
gion muft be built on a foundation of law;
fo, in refpe^l of prad:ice, it may be called
the perfedion of fociety: it brings futurity
into the aid of law, and gives a moral fan(flion
to the edids of authority. Could it find ad-
mittance among favages, it would of necef-
fity polifh them, and introduce fociety among
them. Modern philofophers and politicians,
even while exerting their influence to under-
mine its foundations, give religion this tef-
timony: " Though too vulgar a ftudy for a
** fine fpirit, and its precepts too mean for
** his free fentiments, yet religion is an
<* excellent inftrument in the magiflrates
Si ** hands
278 On the Treatment and
** hands to make the mob harmlefs, fobefj,
*' induftrious, honefl, and obedient-f*."
And conformably to this reafoning we
find, it was in the cities, where fociety had,
improved the underllanding, that the apoflles.
and their fellow-labourers chiefly made con-
verts to Chriftianity. A Pagan or country-
clown, and an heathen or infidel, foon became
equivalent terms. Different, indeed, is the
cafe now, when our fine wits, (who, had they
lived in the early ages of Chriftianity, merely
for the credit of their parts, would have
been moft orthodox) are afhamed of the re^
ligion of their fathers 5 and, rather than pro-
fefs any religion in common with mankind,
will maintain the lilliell: paradox, the moil:
•f There is at laft, indeed, one exception in the newly
erefled ftates of America : they have almoft generally declared
againfl an eftablilbed religion as a neceflary part of their
conftitutions ; the fuccefs cannot for fome time be known.
The good effects of religion in improving fociety, is nobly
teftified in the fuccefs of the Moravians among the favages of
Greenland : by gradually introducing Chriftianity and in-
duftry together, of felfifh precipitate favages, they have made
a band of provident, fober, ufeful, fympathizing brethren.
Their progrefs there is the triumph of religion over ignorant
unaffifted reafon. Yet our Haves are much more civilized than.
thefe originally were ; but liberty, nature's inheritance to man^
more than compenfated to them the diflerencet
degra-
Conversion of African Slaves. 279
degrading dogma.- I wifh, indeed, we could
fay, that good manners, and obedience to the
laws, were not generally fent away with
what they affed: to call bigotry : fo indiflb-
lubly bound together are the charaders of a
good citizen and pious man.
In general the faculties of the mind mufl:
be expanded to a certain degree, before reli-
gion will take root, or flourifli among a peo-
ple; and a certain proportion of civil liberty
is necelTary, on which to found that ex-
panfion of the mind, which moral or religi-
ous liberty requires.* By this aflertion I
exclude not particular inftances j but fuch
neither form nor confute general rules. To
bring this home to the cafe of our flaves :
the great obftacle to government in bring-
ing about this point, fetting afide its own
• When Mofes led the children of Ifrael out of Egypt, he
was under the neceffity of training them up to be an independ-
ent people, by multiplied forms and ftri£l difcipline, for the
fpace of forty years. And it is apparent, from their behavi-
our during this long period, that flavery had fo thoroughly
debafed their minds, as to have rendered them incapable of
the exertions necertary for their fettlement in the promifed
land, till all thofe who had grown up as flaves in Egypt, had
fallen in the wildernefs, and laws and regulations worthy of a
free people had taken place among them. This is a cafe full
in point, and may fuggeft hints worthy of the legiflature.
S 4 carelelfnefs
28o On the Treatment and
carelefTnefs in fuch things, is the alteration
that it would at firJl; make in private pro-
perty. This it is true we have in chap. 2,
fe6t, '^. fhewn to be more in appearance
than in fad:. But fuch are our prejudices,
that any law to improve the condition of
our flaves, or to inftrud them in the prin-
ciples of religion, would be too apt to be
confidered as an incroachment on their maf-
ters property, and an hinderance of their
profit.
Still allowing this prejudice its full ope-
ration, fomething conliderable might be
done by parliament, by colony legiflatures,
by willing confcientious mafters. Expe-
dients would offer themfelves, methods might
be difcovered, to advance the condition, and
promote the religious interefts of flaves, and
fave alfo, or even improve, their labour to
their mafters, and the ftate. Nay, the in-
tereft of the ftate would ultimately be ad-
vanced by every indulgence extended to
them. On the other hand, little can any
other individuals attempt, and lefs can they
effect, except to pray that the minds of our
governors may be enlightened to fee the
honour and advantage of this undertaking.
We
Conversion OF African Slaves. 281
We come now to fiiggeft fuch an advance-
ment of their condition, as may lay the
foundation of that improvement, in morality
and religion, v\^hich is the objed; of this
work.
SECT. III.
Privileges granted, and Police extended to
Slaves.
We have obferved, that Haves are hardly
in any inflance confidered as objects of
police, being abandoned to the manage-
ment, or rather caprice, of their feveral maf-
ters. Nor doth law take notice of them,
but to enforce power, which, without fuch
afliflance, too frequently lays reafon and hu-
manity bleeding at its feet. Our laws, in-
deed, as far as they refpecft flaves, are only
licenced modes of exerciling tyranny on
them ', for they are not made parties to
them, though their lives and feelings be
concluded by them. As well may dirediions
for angling be faid to be laws made for
dumb iifh, as our colony regulations for
whipping, hanging, crucifying, burning
negroes.
282 On the Treatment and
negroes, be called laws made for Haves.
To make them objects of civil government
mull therefore be an efTential part of every
plan of improvement that refped:s Haves ;
fo that while obnoxious to the penalties
of the law, they may be intitled to its
feciirity ; and while law leaves them under
the management of a mafler, it may proted;
them from his barbarity.
A judge Ihould therefore be appointed to
determine difputes of confequence between
mafter and Have, as in the French colonies.*
The power of the mafter fiiould be reftrain-
ed within certain limits. He fhould not
be fuffered to maim, beat, or bruife wret-
ches with a flick. To flit ears and nofes, to
break legs, or caflrate,'^- fliould make a man
infamous for ever, and, equally with the
greater excommunication, incapacitate him
from being evidence, or taking inheritan^
* If it be objei^ed that the appoliitment of a judge would
encourage flaves to be running conftantly to him with com-
plaints, and annihilate the mailer's juft authority; the exam-
ple of Athens formerly, and France now, may be adduced in,
proof, that no fuch efFefts neceffarily follow,
f The lafl inftance of this enormity was, I believe, per-
petrated by an Englilh furgeon in Granada,
Conversion OF African Slaves. 283
ces ; and much more fhould fuch cruelties
{hut the door againfl him from fitting in
an aflembly, or council, as a legiflator. The
fentiment of a gentleman, a native of St.
Chriftopher's, pleafed me on this fubjedt,
** Were a white fervant to behave to me as
** my Haves often do, I fhould be provoked
*' to beat him moft unmercifully. But how
*' can I ftrike a wretch, who dare not ftrike
** again, who has no law to which he may
** apply for fatisfadlion for my excefs, who
** has none but myfelf to look up to for
** protecflion againfl my violence ?" What
pity is it, fince fociety interpofes not, that
fuch fentiments Ihould be uncommon ?
If any Have has been flagrantly ill treated
by a mafter, the mailer fhould have a mark
of infamy, as above, fixed on him, and the
Have fhould be made free without price : or,
if he be unacquainted with any trade by
which he can earn his bread, he fhould be
fold for the benefit of the public, at an eafy
rate, to fome coniiderate man. To make a
flave free, who cannot earn an honeft living,
would be inhuman and impolitic. It is
letting loofe on fociety a thief in defpair.
The
284 On the Treatment and
The marriages of Haves fhould be put un-
der fome better regulation than at prefent ^
when a man may have what wives he plea-
feth, and either of them may break the yoke
at their caprice. Nothing would more hu-
manize flaves, and improve their condition,
than their acquiring a property in their
wives and families, and having a reilraint
laid on the promifcuous intercourfe of the
fexes. Marriage, or a family, is the em-
bryo of fociety ; it contains the principles,
and feeds of every focial virtue. The care
of a family would make them coniidcrate,
fober, frugal, induftrious. An ambition to
promote the condition of their children,
would fharpen and improve their talents.
They would avoid every fault, or meannefs,
that might hurt the intereft or credit of
fuch dear relatives; even as in poliihed fo-
ciety, a man who is married, is generally
found a more ufeful and truft worthy citi-
zen, than he who continues fmgle,*
The
* I admire that policy of the Athenians, which allowed no
unmarried man to hold any place in the magiftracy, army, or
navy. They did not depend on ;^/j fidelity to diftribute juf-
tice, or defend the ftate, who had not given to the public a
wife and children, as fureties of his good behaviour.
I meaa
Conversion of African Slaves. 285
The minimum of a negroe's allowance for
clothes and proviiions iliould be fettled by
law. Slaves iliould be allowed at leafl: Sa-
turday afternoon, as in Jamaica, for their
own work, and to wafh their clothes. Sun-
day fliould be wholly their own, for the
purpofes of inflrucftion, and reft from la-
bour. Their little properties fhould be fe-
cured to them ; their families fhould not
be torn from them. All plantation flaves,
as at prefent is the cuftom in Antigua,
lliould be conlidered as fixed to the free-
I mean not here to cenfure men, who, like Newton, pre-
lerve themfelves chafte and fingle, the more clofely to apply-
to the ftudy of nature, or the intricacies of fcience. Neither
the common good, nor moral reftitude, require the matter to
be fo ftridly urged. Let the poet court his mufe, or the phi-
lofopher hold dalliance with nature, or fport in the fields of li-
terature ; we will not permit the cares of a family to interrupt
his refearches, or difturb his amufement. Matrimony claims
only thofe in each fex, who find themfelves drawn irrefiftibly
to the other, and wilhes only to fanftify their commerce. No
plea can be ufed for the celibacy of thofe who keep not them-
felves chalte. There is a forry felfiflinefs in their ftealin? all
that they value in the ftate, and leaving the cares to others.
For they muft acknowledge, that in every community a cer-
tain proportion mull marry ; and if it be a burden, why are
they exempt? Not but if this were the place to prove it,
marriage might be fhcwn to be, generally fpeaking, the only
rational foundation for focial happinefs, and the Itate the God
of nature appointed for man.
hold.
286 On the Treatment and
hold, that they may not be fold, or car-
ried away wantonly at pleafure. It would
then be the next natural flep, to talk them as
propofed in note, page 129, and fuffer them,
by their extra labour, to work out their
freedom ; ftill taking care to keep as many
of them attached to the foil, as might be
wanted to carry on the ftaple manufactures
of the colonies as day labourers.
Thefe regulations would lay a foundation
for that far diftant view which we take of
this fubjedj the time when liberty fhall
claim every exiled African for her own
child. Their being connedled with the
foil, will draw after it certain perfonal
rights, and all the claims of a family. Having
once taiks affigned them, wages will follow,
and the bargain become mutual and equal
between the employer and employed.* If,
on account of ill behaviour, or any particu-
lar caufe, a mafler be under the necellity of
parting with a plantation ilave, or banilhing
* One infeparable confequence of the communication of the
hajf degree of liberty or privilege to flaves, would be a defire
to be baptized, and to be confidered as Chriftians ; for this
they think fecures the poffeflion of it to them. And much
good might be done towards their inftruftion, by making a
proper advantage of this bias to the religion of their mafters.
him.
Conversion of African Slaves. 287
him, let it be done v^^ith the approbation of
the judge; and let the tranfa(5tion, with the
reafon affigned, be regiftered. In like man-
ner iliould every decree given by the judge
be regifcered.
To improve their minds, the flaves fhould
be accuftomed to determine, as jurors, oa
the behaviour of each other. This would
infenlibly lead them to diilinguilh between
vice and virtue. What rendered the Gre-
cian and Roman mobs (for their aflemblies
were no better) fo fuperior to the nations
around them, but the privilege of being con-
ftituted judges both of public meafures and
private caufes, and, as fuch, of being daily
improved by the public orations of their
lawyers and ftatefmen ? The frequent at-
tendance on our courts of law, and as jury-
men in the trial of caufes, which moft peo-
ple in our little colonies are obliged to give,
except they bribe off their appearance, im-
parts a precifion and readinefs in thinking to
the colonifts, that one fhall in vain look for
in the mother country in the fame rank, on
the fame fubjed:s. Yet they are often very
unpolifhed beings, when Europe firft fends
them out among us.
Maflers
288 On the Treatment and
Mafters (hould be encouraged to grant
freedom to fuch ilaves as fhewed merit, and
promifed to make good ufe of it ; but they
fhould be retrained from turning off flaves
when become incapable of labour, as is of-
ten done, under pretence of giving them
freedom. AH colony laws, ena(fted on the
narrow principle of perfonal diftindion, to
prevent or fetter manumiffion, iliould be
annulled; fuch as thofe of Barbadoes and
Granada, that fix a heavy fine to the public
on the mailer who frees a Have. All mu-
lattoes fhould be fent out free, trained to
fome trade or bufinefs at the age of thirty
years. Children of mulattoe girls Ihould be
free from their birth, or from the com-
mencement of their mother's freedom. In-
tendants fhould be appointed to fee them
put in time to fuch trade or bufinefs, as
may befi: agree with their inclination, and
the demands of the colony. This fhould
be done at the expence of their fathers, and
a fufficient fum might be depofited in the
hands of the church-wardens, foon after
their birth, to anfwer the purpofe ; the in-
tendant keeping the church- wardens to their
duty. This cafe fuppofes the mother to be
free.
Conversion OF African Slaves. 289
free. If a man has a mulattoe born to him
by another man's negrefs, he ihould pay to
her owner eight pounds flerhng, as foon as
the child is weaned. It ihould then be
confidered as the mailer's child, to be fent
out free as above. If the parent or mailer
has negled:ed to inilruc5l them in fome ufe-
ful calling, he ihould be fined in an annuity
equal to their maintenance.
By thefe means, the number of free citi-
zens would infenfibly increafe in the colo-
nies, and add to their fecurity and ilrength.
A new rank of citizens, placed between the
black and white races, would be eilabliila-
ed. They would naturally attach them-
felves to the white race, as the more ho-
nourable relation, and fo become a barrier
againil the defigns of the black. Nay,
were the law extended to free every fenfible
negrefs (and they are generally domeilics,
and fempilrelTes) who ihould bring a mu-
lattoe child by her mailer, or any man
worth as much as would repay her value to
her maiter, I fee no ill confeque«ces that
could follow from the regulation. At leail,
if it checked this improper commerce be-
tween mailer and flave, it would promote
T legal.
290 On the Treatment and
legal, and more honourable connedtions with
their own equals. Still thieves, and va-
gabond beggars, fliould be excepted from
every privilege, and be kept, or reduced to
llavery, whenever difcovered i and if this
were the law, under certain refl:rid:ions, even
in Britain, much wealth and happinefs
would redound from it.
On thefe outlines of fociety, viz. the indif-
foluble tie of marriage, the claims of a fami-
ly, the allowance of property, the afcertain-
ing the hours and time of labour, or al-
lotting it by tafk; the fixing the mini-
mum of maintenance and clothing ; the
adjudging them to the foil; the making
them arbiters of each other's condud: ; the
affigning them a proted;or or judge, to pre-
ferve their little privileges, and fecure them
againil cruelty ^ in iliort, on the vindicat-
ing for them the common rights of hu-
manity, would we ered: a plan, that fhould
look forward to their gradual improve-
ment, and extend, by flow but fure ileps,
to the full participation of every focial pri-
vilege. Thus fecured from injury, thus
partaking in the fruits of their own labour,
they might be refigned to the care of the
, paflors
Conversion of African Slaves. 291
paftors that we have propofed for them, to
be built up in holinefs, and the fear of God,
and taught to look forward with refigna-
tion and hope, to a ftate where every hard-
ship, every inequality, infeparable from the
lot of humanity, fhall be intirely removed,
and fully compenfated.
CONCLUSION.
I have now laid before the public what
I fuppofed might bear the light; not all
I have thought, not all I have written on
the fubjed:. In many points fentiment has
ftruggled with the feliiihnefs of the age, and
been obliged to fupprefs many a generous
wifl:! : the feelings of benevolence have been
forced to give way to the fuggeftions of
narrow policy; and even a fenfe of the pub-
lic intereft has been made to yield to private
prejudice. Yet, if our flaves were once
accuftomed to tafle only a few of the fweets
of fociety, a little of the fecurity of being
judged by known laws, they would double
their application to procure the comforts
and conveniencies of life; and, with their
T 2 additional
292
>N THE Treatment and
additional property, would naturally rife in
their rank in fociety. Many, efpecially if
our plan of working them by talk were to
take place, would, in time, be able to pur-
chafe their own freedom. Their demands
for manufad:ures would increafe, and extend
our trade; they would acquire a love for
the country and government that fhewed this
attention to them. The labour of fuch as
became free might, for fome time, be re-
gulated on the fame plan as that of labourers
in England. Under the awe of, or rather
affifled by, a few regular troops, they might
fafely be trufled with arms for the defence of
thcmfelves, their families, their own, and
patron's property. Then would the colonies
enjoy a fecurity from foreign attacks that no
protection from Europe can afford them.
The minds of thefe, our fellow-creatures,
that are now drowned in ignorance, being
thus opened and improved, the pale of rea-
fon would be enlarged j Chriftianity would
receive new ftrength; liberty new fubjed:s.
The Have trade, in its prefent form the re-
proach of Britain, and threatening to hallen
its downfal, might be made to take a new
ihape, and become ultimately a bleffing to
thou-^
Conversion of African Slaves. 293
thoufands of wretches, who, left in their na-
tive country, would have dragged out a life
of miferable ignorance; unknowing of the
hand that framed them; unconfcious of the
reafon of which they were made capable;
and heedlefs of the happinefs laid up in ftore
for them.*
Thus, by a timely interpoiition of the
legillature, and a judicious attention to cir-
cumflances, might Britain acquire a con-
iiderable acceffion of ilrength, have its trade
and taxes improved, and a large number of
ufeful fellow-fubjed:s, that are now funk in
mifery and bondage, made happy here, and
capable of happinefs hereafter. And thefe
are confiderations that, furely, are fuffici-
ently powerful to unite the worldling and
politician, with the pious faint and iincere
Chriftian, to carry on the fcheme as one
* This is on the fuppofition that the Have trade could be
ccndufled without that violence and injuftice to individuals,
and enormous lofs of lives in the paffage from Africa, and,
during the feafoning in the colonies, that now accompanies it.
For the greateft benefit that can poffibly happen to a few
cannot juftify us for endeavouring it by murder, by vio-
lence, bad air, and famine, in making the experiment.
They mult offer themfelves willingly for the voyage, and be
tetter accomjncdatcd and trc;.ted during the courfe of it.
man^
294 ^N T^-^ Treatment and
man, iince each would find his feparate ac-
count in it. Honour, profit, piety, all join
in the important requefl:; all folicit to have
their claims to this benefit confidered.
And what glory would it be to Britain,
what an obje<ft of emulation, to enlarge the
benevolent plan of France and Spain, for
improving the condition of their flaves ;
and to open a way for the admiilion of
reafon, religion, liberty, and law among
creatures of our kind, at prefent deprived of
every advantage, of every privilege, which,
as partakers of our common nature, they are
capable of and entitled to !
We have notorioufly and continually thrufl
ourfelves into the quarrels of others, and
been lavifh of our blood and treafure for the
protection of ftrangers and the advancement
of ungrateful rivals, whofe good- will, even in
appearance, we could retain no longer than
while our afTiflance was ufeful to them. But
thefe miferable wretches live only, can live
only, for our profit, for our luxury. They
have no protedlor, no refuge to flee to ; and
every penny laid out for their advantage
would return with tenfold ufury to us. And
ihall
Conversion of x^frican Slaves. 295
fhall Vv^e, from year to year, continue to
fpend our riches and ftrength, in railing up
thanklefs rival ftates, and deny thefe unhappy
beings a poor pittance of their own labour to
make them a farther advantage and glory to
us? Forbid it, honour; forbid it, juftice;
forbid it, prudence 5 forbid it, humanity.
What is here propofed may, poffibly, on trial,
be found ineitedlual, though I have good
ground to think it would not. But, furely,
were the feelings of humanity, the refearches
of knowledge, and the obfervations of ex-
perience, colledled in the confultation, they
could not fail in producing fome plan capable
of anfwering the willi of reafon, religion,
liberty ;• capable of fecuring thefe bleffings
to Britain and her children. Reafon will
not be backward in a work that is to produce
her advancement; Liberty will think no con-
ceflion great that is to extend her empire;
Piety will not reckon that expence exceffive
that has the purchafe of fouls in view.
Even felfilli Intereft will open her ears to
the fuggeilions of accumulation. Slow me-
thodical difcretion mufl prefide over, and
^uide the gradually opening fcene. What un-
wearied application have the premiums offered
for
^ ig6 On the Treatment and
for the difcovery of the longitude given rife
to ? And what object more worthy of pub-
lic encouragement than this, which propofes
to recover to reafon, to utility, and happi-
nefs, a multitude of human creatures drown-
ed in ignorance and wretchednefs ?
Though what is here written, if deemed
worthy of notice, will certainly expofe
the author to much abufe from men, whofe
wiihes and intereft, as they imagine them to
tend, are oppofed to all reformation; yet, is
he not fenfible of having had any thing
finifter, felfifh, or cenforious in view; nor
can he, in any refped, be particularly bene-
fited if the improvement were to take effed: I
He has intended no flight or injury to in-
dividuals, or to any condition or community
of men, feparated from their oppofition to
the unalienable rights of human nature
and the dictates of benevolence and religion.
His confolation is, that a fimple love of
truth, and a fincere defire to do good, alone
excited him to the attempt, and that many
pious and learned perfons thought it worthy
the attention of the public. And, after feri-
oufly reviewing the whole, he fees no objec-
tion to be offered before hand, either againil
the
Conversion of African Slaves. 297
the pra(5licability, or expence of the plan,
except the manners and prejudices of the
age. On the contrary, there are conlide-
rations to encourage both individuals and
government to make the attempt -, argu-
ments of ftrength, not only to be drawn
from topics of humanity, liberty, religion,
but alfo of fafety, conveniency, politive
intereft, and profit, both public and private*
Doubtlefs, in a fubje6t like this, v^^here
we muil be fatisfied with general accounts,
probable conjectures, and analogical reafon-
ing, a perfon inclined to take the other fide
may fele(fl many things to be objefted to,
many to be contradifted. But, till fuch a
man can, fimply and generally fpeaking,
vindicate on the fcore of religion, mo-
rality, or even policy, the condud:, or rather
negligence of government, v/ith refped: to
the fugar colonies; till he can prove that the
diet, the clothing, the labour, the punifh-
ments of 4000,000 negroes, ought to be left
entirely to the difcretion of their mafters; till
he can affirm, that Haves have an adequate re-
medy, either in law, opinion, or interefl, as
prad:ifed or undcrfiood among us, -againft
the parfimony, infenfibility, prejudices,
U mean-
298 On the Treatment and
meannefs, ignorance, fpite, arid cruelty of
their owners and overfeers ; till he can ftiew,
that the prefent Hate of our flaves is the bell
poffible flate, both for them and their maf-
ters, into which they can be put; and that
we had a right to ravifh them from their
country, to tranfport, and place them in our
own; till he can fhew it to be impojjible to
make them real Chriftians, or to render them
more ufeful members of the ftate than
they are at prefent; till he can ihew that
reafon is convinced, humanity pleafed, that
liberty has no claim, and religion no wifh;
the juftice of our remarks muft remain
eflabliflied, and the neceffity of that attention
to the improvement of flaves, both as men
and Chriftians, which is here inforced,
muft remain unconfuted.
May God, in his providence, in his good-
nefs, efteem us a people worthy of a bleiling,
fo valuable and extenfive as the focial im-
provement and converlion to Chriftianity of
our ilaves would indifputably be. In this
prayer, every pious, humane, and confider-
ate reader will join with
The Author,
FINIS.,
Publijhed by the fame Author, and fold for the
Benefit of the Maritime School,
An Essay on the Duty and Qualifica-
tions of a Sea Officer, fold by George
Robinfon, Pater- nofler-Row.
A Volume of Sermons addrelTed to the Sea-
men ferving in the Royal Navy, fold
by Rivington and Sons, St. Paul's Church-
Yard.
I ,1:
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